Indoor and outdoor mapping and navigation utilizing RF bluetooth beacons

ABSTRACT

A series of RF beacons deployed about a localized area to create an infrastructure for use with mapping, navigation, and marketing of merchants in the vicinity thereof. An application would utilize the RF beacons to determine a user&#39;s location respective to a local area and inform the user of their location on an associated map. The application can employ the RF beacons for navigation through the local area. The application can utilize a beacon identifier that would be embedded within the beacon signal. The beacon identifier can be utilized to determine a user&#39;s location, provide navigation, obtain marketing information for merchants associated with the specific beacon, etc. Receipt of the beacon signal could initiate a feature on the receiving device to transmit a request for information to a remote provider, which in turn, utilizes the beacon identifier to obtain information associated with the area and return the information accordingly.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is:

a Divisional Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/285,209filed on May 22, 2014,

which is a Divisional Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/930,735 filed on Jan. 14, 2011,

which is a Divisional Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/396,843 filed on Apr. 3, 2006 (now U.S. Pat. No. 7,899,583 on Mar. 1,2011),

which is a Non-Provisional U.S. Patent Application claiming the benefitof U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/670,097 filed on Apr.12, 2005; and

a Divisional Application of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/135,421 filed on Jul. 5, 2011,

which is a Divisional Application of pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/932,811 filed on Mar. 7, 2011,

which is a Divisional Application of pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/587,042 filed on Oct. 1, 2009,

which is a Divisional Application of pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 12/069,899 filed on Feb. 13, 2008 (issued as U.S. Pat. No.7,924,149 on Apr. 12, 2011),

which is a Divisional Application of pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/472,706 filed on Jun. 22, 2006,

which is a Divisional Application of pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/429,864 filed on May 8, 2006,

which is a Non-Provisional U.S. Patent Application claiming the benefitof U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/678,947 filed on May9, 2005,

a Divisional Application of pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/587,042 filed on Oct. 1, 2009,

which is a Divisional Application of pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/429,864 filed on May 8, 2006,

which is a Non-Provisional U.S. Patent Application claiming the benefitof U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/678,947 filed on May9, 2005.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is directed generally to the field of RF beacons. Morespecifically, the application of a series of deployed RF beaconscreating an infrastructure for use in navigation, marketing, emergencysituations, transportation, parking assistance, hospitalityapplications, and the like, wherein the information is displayed upon amap on a user's cellular phone or similar device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Introduction to Location Based Services:

Location based services are rapidly expanding. Outdoor locationtechnologies are mainly based on GPS technologies. GPS cannot performproperly indoors and is therefore inadequate. As a result, indoorlocation systems are appearing on the market.

The need for a system arises from various market segments andapplications. One example in the market is the GPS based systems thatuse integrated positioning and navigation systems based on GPS receiversas the primary positioning technology. Subsequent to the events ofSeptember 11th′ the Federal government mandated that GPS capability bebuilt in to all cellular phones. However, the fact that uninterruptedsatellite reception is not possible in many locations is a majorlimitation of GPS based systems. Densely populated areas andradio-frequency-signal shadowed locations, such as urban centers (a.k.a.“urban canyons”), generally do not allow proper operation of GPS, yet itis in these locations that the need is greatest.

There is a clear need for a cost effective system that maintainsperformance indoors, in urban canyons and in city centers.

Another important consideration is that GPS itself is susceptible tojamming and other man-made interference.

Description of GPS System:

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation andtime transfer system developed by the U.S. Department of Defense. GPSserves marine, airborne and terrestrial users in the military as well ascivilians. Specifically, GPS includes the Standard Positioning Service(SPS) that pro-vides civilian users with 100 meter accuracy as to thelocation or position of the user. For military users GPS provides thePrecise Positioning Service that is accurate to within 20 meters. Bothof these services are available worldwide with no requirement for anylocal equipment.

View of GPS Limitations:

First limitation of GPS is that upon activation the GPS receiver scansfor signals from the GPS satellites. A unit must locate and receivesignals from at least four satellites to be able to determine itslocation. This process of locating the satellites, receiving the dataand achieving a position fix can take several minutes. This delay isproblematic for many GPS applications.

Second limitation of GPS is that the receiver needs a clear view of thesky to successfully receive signals from the satellites, again underunfriendly RF conditions such as inside buildings, or in “urban canyons”or in the shadows of high buildings, the GPS suffers from multi-patheffects and therefore shows poor performance or none at all.

Third Limitation-limited accuracy: There is a problem of limitedaccuracy of the civilian GPS signal. While knowing your position towithin 50 to 200 feet anywhere on the planet is a major technologicalfeat, it is still not accurate enough, to locate and navigate to an astore in a mall or to empty parking space, where each space measuresabout 10 feet, and most indoor store/malls are located where the GPScannot work effectively.

Existing navigation systems, such as the new mandatory GPS equippedcellular phones, are based on GPS and have the aforementionedlimitations.

Another significant factor adding to the limitations of the GPS basedsystems is the important role of map production; normally a userrequires a map to be as detailed and as up-to-date as possible. Theexisting maps used by the GPS based systems provide limited detail andare not able to reflect changes on a real time basis, more over there isno mapping for indoor facilities at all. The recent introduction ofimagery services, such as Google Earth and its competitors, that areoffered as an enhancement to GPS at a fee, still provide out of dateinformation, with the unsatisfactory result that users encounter roadchanges and area development not shown on the maps and imagery.

The Proposed Solutions:

In general, the subject invention is based on applying machine-learningtechniques to the task of inferring aspects of the user's status from astream of input from Small RF tags/beacons are installed in local areaindoor or outdoor or in places designated as Point Of Interest (POI), beit at a mall, department store, product inside a store, street or garageparking, inside or outside location, public or commercial, Thetags/beacons can be RFID (long range type), or a Bluetooth with theoption to long range Bluetooth, or a Wi-Fi or any RF type. Thetags/beacon broadcast a unique ID by wireless that identifies thelocation by the unique ID, the address and type offacility/store/product. The tag/beacon broadcasts its information to bepicked up by the mobile phone application, via the cellular phone orother Bluetooth device with application.

The focus of the application for the indoor guide navigation and localbased services, or navigation in crowded urban areas, where GPS basedsystems, due to lack of access to satellites or the GPS limitationsdetailed previously, cannot achieve the required results.

The disclosed applications focus on the task of interactively guidingthe user to a desired indoor destination.

Examples of indoor applications:

The user may wish to locate an empty available parking space in hisvicinity.

The user may wish to locate a specific store in a shopping mall, or aparticular aisle in a department store, or a specific item on a shelf.

The user may wish to locate a specific conference room in a conventioncenter, or a Point Of Interest (POI) in an amusement park or a Point OfInterest (POI) in a museum.

The user may be looking for a train location in a station, or stops in asubway or underground train system.

PRIOR ART

At present, however, no prior art device utilizes the capabilities todisplay a real-time representation of navigating directly from thesensors without a central system; and without using a GPS based systemdirectly to the “user”. Also most systems are designed for the old querytype search where interface to Internet and or database to a centralsystem is needed

The navigation system automatically detects a signal directly from thebacon, no communication needed not even cellular communication to do thedetermination of the location where is other systems must have bandwidthavailable, over which to send a request to a central system, or to adatabase, and then must wait for a response. This takes time!

Even if the other systems have bandwidth, they are still based on theexisting search concept where the user submits a query, searches andwaits for the response. This is impractical. The subject system providesthe information automatically, without submitting any query, and theresponse is according to the user's location, wherein the user'slocation is determined by proximity to the beacon in the local area.

Again, most of the existing prior arts are based either on a GPS basedsystem or the existing car navigator, that depends on a GPS too. And theexisting mapping that these systems use has the same limitationsdescribed previously and is impractical.

The present invention bridges the gap between the GPS based navigationand provides a complete solution.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,031,875 Ellenby et al. describe a pointing system foraddressing objects, provide a system and method based on GPS andInternet/database communication, it is not exactly a navigation but aninformation based system that needs the GPS to locate the user locationso indoor services is likely out of the questions and the need forcommunication as well with GPS limits its availability and accuracy.

The system, as provided by the present invention, determines thelocation using the beacon/tag ID, Proximity Detection (PD), and ReceivedSignal Strength (RSSI), Time of Arrival (TOA)=and Angle of Arrival(AOA).

Proximity Detection (PD)

This method relies upon a dense grid of antennas, each having awell-known position. When a mobile device is detected by a singleantenna, it is considered to be collocated with it. When more than oneantenna detects the mobile, it is considered to be collocated with theone that receives the strongest signal.

This method is relatively simple to implement. It can be implementedover different types of physical media. In particular, IR and RFID arebased on this method.

Triangulation

In case more than one beacon/tag signal a Triangulation takes PD a stepfurther, in the sense that it is based on measuring the signal levelmeasurements from each antenna (possibly by using a triangulationmechanism), with respect to each mobile device. Following that, mobileis located by using a triangulation algorithm.

Like the PD method, triangulation is relatively simple to implement.

Time of Arrival (TOA)

Time of arrival (TOA) is based on triggering the mobile devices torespond, and measuring the time it takes for the response to fly back tothe antenna. The elapsed time represents the distance between the two.By using distances from a few antennas, a mobile's position can betriangulated. TOA is considered to be the most accurate method, becausemulti-path effects can be filtered out. Yet, it is considerably morecomplex to implement, as it requires a modification to the hardware onthe mobile side, as well as special modifications on the antenna side.

Angle of Arrival (AOA)

Angle of Arrival (AOA) is based on finding the direction of maximalsignal intensity for each antenna-device pair. By finding theintersection of several such direction vectors, a mobile's position canbe estimated AOA is considerably less accurate than TOA, due to limitedangular resolution and the fact that indoors much of the signal isreflected. Also, AOA antennas are more complex, as they requiremulti-section, highly directional antennas, and multiple RF circuitries.

Bluetooth is a newer wireless local networking standard that operates inthe 2.4 GHz ISM band. and the range is shorter (typically 10-15 m,although there are tags with a range of over 300 feet). On the otherhand, Bluetooth is a “lighter” standard, highly ubiquitous (embedded inmost phones, PDAs, PC peripherals, etc.) and supports, in addition toIP, several other networking services. Notably, Bluetooth supportsserial port emulation, voice, and various types of object exchange.Bluetooth tag/beacons are small, pocketsize transceivers.

Every Bluetooth device's tag/beacon has a unique ID. This ID can be usedfor locating the tag/beacon and providing location information of themobile device in the proximity.

The relevant location scenario of the present invention is that ofsearching for a certain tag. It is the most accurate and the fasterresponse time and it is this method in indoor navigation and locatingwhen and where each tag/beacon ID is a known address position-waypoint.

Why use Bluetooth for indoor location?

Bluetooth has some advantages in the context of indoor location. Theseinclude:

Bluetooth uses RF—in the 2.4 GHz ISM band, specifically. In thisfrequency range, radio waves penetrate obstacles, such as walls andhuman bodies, albeit with a substantial loss.

This has two implications:

Availability of a “high-there” application is always some signalreceived from the tags/beacons.

Tags/beacons can be placed relatively far apart (typical range is 10-15meters, i.e. not necessarily of one in each way point).

Bluetooth is ubiquitous-Bluetooth chipsets are being implantedeverywhere nowadays (phones, accessories, computing devices, etc), thetags/beacon can be implements anywhere, inside buildings roads insidecars transportation entities, inside home for home automationtriggering, or in any kind of business triggering application or andlink to exiting system.

The fact that a Bluetooth location system can locate any Bluetoothenabled device, makes it more cost-effective. This means that anincreasing fraction of humans and mobile assets around would becomelocatable in a Bluetooth covered site, with no additional hardware cost(no tags/beacons attached). The only need is to pre-register thesedevices. Bluetooth is a low power technology-tags need recharge, approx.once a week (or longer, depends on the usage scenario). Non-tags (e.g.BT enabled phones) are being recharged anyway on a regular basis, sothey do not need special recharges. If they are being used for location,the fraction added to their usual (no Bluetooth) power consumption isrelatively small.

Bluetooth is a low cost technology, having expected high productionvolumes (hundreds of millions annually) lead to sub-$5 per chip. It isnoted that several IC manufacturers have already met this goal. Thiswould eventually result in a low price for the Bluetooth tags/beacons,if and when Bluetooth location systems would become sufficientlyubiquitous. Bluetooth is a multi-functional communicationstandard—location is only one of the services that can be supported by aBluetooth infrastructure. The same infrastructure can be used to provideadditional network services, particularly remote monitoring and controlor just trigger link to exiting system. In addition, Bluetooth providesvoice and IP services (although for the later, WLAN is typically moresuitable).

In open spaces, relatively free of obstructions and walls (e.g. a largewarehouse or a public hotspot), Bluetooth alone would suffice to providea −2 meter error range.

Conclusions

The proposed beacon technology offers unique advantages: one is theability to locate ubiquitous “any tags” (any Bluetooth enabled devicecan be associate and be use the advantage of the Bluetooth beacons, e.g.most of the newer mobile phones). The other advantage is themultiservice nature of the Bluetooth beacons infrastructure that enablesusing the tags/beacons for other purposes, such as for locating andnavigating, remote monitoring and control, trigger existence and link toexisting systems and software and for a variety of local based servicesand local push messaging services.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, these are the navigationproject's characteristics:

The proposed system is a locating and navigation method based on thefollowing unique characteristics:

In an indoor or outdoor navigation situation the RF beacons tags,replace the satellite in a GPS based system, to provide the user withthe information and directions needed to reach the destination.

The proposed system has three major parts:

The detection and navigator, the special method used to display the dataand the information from the area trigger as result of being in closeproximity to the RF beacons in the area.

It is not a location and tracking system as offered by other systems.

Small RF tags/beacons are installed in each place designated as Point OfInterest (POI), be it at a mall, department store, product inside astore, street or garage parking, inside or outside location, public orcommercial. The tags/beacons can be RFID (long range type), or aBluetooth with the option to long range Bluetooth, or a Wi-Fi or any RFtype. The tags/beacon broadcast a unique ID by wireless that identifiesthe location by the unique ID, the address and type offacility/store/product. The tag/beacon broadcasts its information to bepicked up by the mobile phone application navigator, via the cellularphone or other Bluetooth device with application, the beacon ID triggerapplication and push information to the Bluetooth device or the cellularphone with the Bluetooth.

The system can serve as add on to the mall's/store's guide/mapping toprovide extra assistance to user.

The Navigator.

The Navigator, Cellular Phone Application Bluetooth Application

The user device scan the local area for ID broadcast by the tags/beaconsin the vicinity via the wireless Bluetooth interface with a cellulartelephone utilizing the cellular phone's Bluetooth capability. It isimportant to note that no cellular communication or Internet or databaseaccess is needed to determine the location of the device and that anyBluetooth enabled device will operate the navigation application as astand-alone device. The beacon system can interface with existing in carsystem and/or car navigation system.

The display method.

The display method is a unique way to bridge existing devices likecellular phones, in-car system and in-car navigation and other Bluetoothdevices. The system provides an overlay display method over the existingnavigation system mapping or floor map or floor images, as a real-timefloating display, or as a waypoint to overcome the limitations of GPSbased systems and the existing mapping systems, the indicator placedoverlay on the floor plan image, it may further include providing avisual indication a circle on the floor plan image of the path, whereinthe visual indication—the circle indicates an area of the indoor mapwhere the location information identifies a particular location and thecircle provides the accuracy radius circle.

The mapping: a system and method for mapping an indoor environment isprovided. a user device may receive an indication of a starting point ona floor plan.

The user device may prompt the user to travel in a particular direction,or the direction of travel may be determined by the user device inresponse to the user indicating a second location after the user hastraveled to the second location.

As the user travels from the starting point in the designated direction,the user device may gather information about the indoor environment. Forexample, the user device may gather wireless signal strength data, fromproximity RF beacons Wi-Fi or Bluetooth while the user travels in thedesignated direction.

The user device may associate the gathered information with the path theuser traveled from the starting point to the ending point. The operationcan be done at the user device—the cellular handheld, the associationmay also be performed by a remote server using data provided by the userdevice. As the user travels from point to point, the client device mayindicate the area for which valid location information is availablebased on the path the user traveled and the information the usercollected.

The Mapping can be offered as an additional service for the indoor basedon area building floor or image mapping.

The navigation system will enable remote planning based on downloadedlocal floor-plans the floor mapping or floor images—the indoor viewimages of the local building facility, or local navigation, when thelocation's floor plan can be triggered to down-loaded at thedestination. An example of this would be at the entrance of a shoppingmall, a department store, an amusement park, a museum, a parking garage,a downtown area of a city, and the like.

The navigation system is based on a network of tags/beacons that can bedeployed anywhere. The system is accurate to within 10 feet,significantly better existing navigation systems and GPS. The system canwork inside a building whereas GPS cannot.

Local detection is obtained via popular Bluetooth interface.

The system provides information about each facility/store, includinginformation about the type of the facility, for example: type of storeor product etc.

By providing the ability to locate a the user in an area using aBluetooth enabled device, or a cellular phone with the navigationapplication and the RF beacons method, the system overcomes the anxietyof “Where am I” and also facilitates finding a parked car later via theRTP (Return to Parking) feature.

The system has the capability to perform all the functions of a searchfor and can become the “Next generation search out of the box”.

The navigation system can be attractive for places that already deployWI-FI and can be used for the existing WI-FI devices as a tags/beacons.

In case of an emergency or security situation, the system can provideauthorities with information.

The system eases and facilitates navigation to indoor locations, withouta navigation map or GPS. Indoor Mapping can be provided as part of thenavigation system. The system provides “local” navigation as well as“remote” detection.

The system allows easy interface or trigger application with existingnetworks or existing system.

The system saves gas, time, money and eases global warming by reducingthe time spent searching for destination.

The navigation method is unique. The navigation system is based upon RFtags/beacons with interface to Bluetooth enabled devices. This featureallows detection and navigation in locations where GPS cannot work, aswell as outside, with the ability to guide the user to within 10 feet ofthe destination, significantly better than any other navigation and GPSbased systems on the market.

The Bluetooth RF tags/beacons are based on a long-range version of thepopular short distance communication. This unique feature affords theuser the ability to plan ahead from a remote location, by obtaining IDabout the destination directly from the tags/beacons and by accessingthe indoor floor plan to be navigated at the destination.

A major problem with In-Car navigation and GPS mapping is that theycannot guide the user closer than 50 to 200 feet, and only in openplaces. The navigation system can provide accurate directions to within10 feet.

The navigation system will be a challenge to navigation providers andGPS providers as they cannot provide mapping or navigation inside amall, department store, a parking garage or lot, and anywhere theGPS/Navigation map cannot accurately help navigate.

Utilizing this innovation, the facilities in the vicinity around the“user” car are displayed on a floating overlay using either a cellularphone application, or a stand-alone device, or an existing installednavigation system with or without any mapping.

The recent introduction of imagery services, such as Google Earth andits competitors, that are offered as an enhancement to GPS at a fee,still provide out of date information, with the unsatisfactory resultthat users encounter road changes and area development not shown on themaps and imagery.

Navigation using the mapping or floor plan of a location can be offeredas a part of the system. The option of downloading a floor plan can beexercised either remotely or locally.

The tags/beacons broadcast their signal continuously and any of thenavigation devices will detect them and display the ID/data on theuser's device in an easy to understand method.

With our innovation you have the information that you want, when youwant it, where you want it . . . (and at an affordable price)

Once you are in the vicinity of your destination and you switch on yournavigation device, by being in proximity to installed beacons in thearea you will automatically receive the facility information along yourwaking route and in all directions around you.

No further action is required, there is no need to send a request or toaccess the Internet/web or log on and search a database or centralsystem the access to the Internet is to provide a local based serviceslike push information or messages or offers, deals, advertising to themobile user.

Other systems are still based on the existing search concept where theuser submits a query, searches and awaits for the response. Allimpractical while the user needs the information immediately. Thenavigation system provides the information automatically, withoutsubmitting any query, and the response takes into account the user'slocation determined by the proximity RF beacons.

The unique approach to detection of the mobile inside the buildings doesnot need an Internet bandwidth or cellular communication. The Internetor cellular communication provides local based services and additionalinformation that can be pushed to the user device.

And as a result there is no delay or waiting for communication andaccess time, the communication is instantaneous, triggered directlybetween the tags/beacons ID and the user's device.

Additionally, each facility type can be ID coded to identify the type ofthe store etc., e.g. restaurants, men's wear, women's wear etc.

Each ID-coded display of facility can be trigger accessed to informationabout the store e.g., providing automatic waypoint information.

The ability to operate the innovation using the disclosed applicationson a cellular phone, the navigator, with no need for cellular connectionto determine the current location, means the user does not need any GPSsystem.

Moreover, the navigation system can solve the “RTP” (Return to parking)problem, where many forget where they parked their car. The system hasan option to save the location on the “cellular phone-parking detector”application that will make it easy to locate the parked car.

The navigation solution is designed for global use and is not limited tomalls, stores, amusement parks, museums, sports stadiums etc. It can beimplemented in parking garages or parking spaces metered or not, thetags/beacons can be implemented anywhere and in any place to trigger andinitiate existing and local application and even link to exiting systemand existing software.

It is envisioned that in the future all new construction will have thetags/beacons included in the design, even place addresses, a buildingaddresses can be replaced or use an add-on with the implementation of atags/beacon in the area to be recognized or scanned by the mobiledevice.

The system integrates the navigation as part of the NAV4 concepts whereit will provide complete solutions for local navigation in an area wherethe GPS can't work.

The navigation system consists of the following parts:

An infrastructure of tags/beacons, wherein each tag/beacon is installedin a local and known location.

The navigation system is based on mapping and navigation to and in thelocation, and its aim is to replace or supplement the mall/storeguide/map, by installing the tags/beacons in each store or Point OfInterest (POI).

The mapping: As GPS and GPS mapping is not available indoors, thenavigation system is based upon the floor plan mapping or floor imagesavailable from each facility. For planning ahead, the floor plan or thefloor images can be downloaded as part of user's navigation/cellularphone remotely-via Internet as mobile application before reaching thedestination or triggered when the destination is reached.

The Navigation uses the most commonly used device in the world today,the cellular phone with Bluetooth interface.

As a difference from other systems and other local based systems, thissolution offers a unique approach that can be described as the “Searchout of the box” as neither query nor database search is needed; allneeded is to know the proximity tags/beacons ID and the cellular phone,working as a Bluetooth device, that automatically scans and recognizesthe local area tags/beacons and determines the “user's” location, andprovides instant information to the user and to the business in thearea.

A typical application is guide and navigating a pedestrian in anenvironment like a mall, department store, specialty store, conference,trade show, amusement park, university, hospital, school, municipalbuilding, museum, subway, train station, airport, down town center, afinance facility, cruise ship and any type of parking facility . . . orany place when and where GPS cannot be provided or is not accurate orprecise enough. The system will be used for navigation by firstresponders to emergencies or disasters.

The navigation system is part of the broad suite of applications thatinclude a complete solution to the “user” from the time that he parks,or begins looking for a space to park his car, walking to the store/mallor to any indoor facility to when he wants to return to his parked car,looking for the place that he parked.

The suite may includes:

Parking detector- and navigation to the empty available parking space.

Automatic notification of user existence in the place/store/facility

Nav4 mall/store navigation solution inside mall/store.

RTP-return to parking-locate the place that you parked your car.

For example, a typical application could be:

A pedestrian asks the way in a mall to a specific store.

A pedestrian asks the way inside the store, to a specific aisle orproduct.

A shopper in a department store asks for a specific department.

A pedestrian asks the way to a Point Of Interest (POI). In an emergency,the first response team has to navigate inside a smoke filled building.

A store owner can use the notification and the knowledge of existencefor loyalty and rewards

The beacons ID can trigger a link to exiting software and aware thelocal system of the user existence—such as:

-   -   A traveler is check in into a hotel/resort, the hotel/resort can        provides with automatic check-in and interface to the        hotel/resort front system.    -   A traveler is check-in into a flight in the airport, the airline        provides the traveler with automatic check in to the flight when        the traveler reach close proximity to a RF local beacon.    -   A customer are check into a restaurant or food service, the        business will recognize the customer when he in proximity to the        local RF beacon.    -   The pedestrian reach an advertising area or billboard that can        recognize the user by being in a close proximity to the        advertising area and provide the user with customize personalize        advertising or offer.    -   A customer is entering a store/bank/facility front would be        identified/recognized for additional information or services.    -   The RF beacons/tags can serve to track employee time, including        check-in and checkout times from designate area.    -   The local RF beacons associate with the user mobile can be part        of local dating system.    -   The local RF beacons with associate with the user mobile can        create virtual secure zone for child or elderly or any care        monitoring.    -   The location of the user as associate with the local beacons can        be interface with social networking.    -   The RF beacons can be part of solving the parking problems where        each parking location can be user an RF beacon with additional        sensor to find if the parking area is empty and provide parking        information—nav4parking.    -   The RF beacon can be installed or be a part of a vehicle to        provide car application like payments security car broadcasting        car tracking car communication and automatic car counting to        provide transportation managements with statistically        information automatically.

A system and method to provide a user information which is related tothe Point Of Interest (POI), the navigation system provides detectionand navigation reference, position determination and information relatedto the object-Point Of Interest (POI), directly and automatically to theuser interface-cellular phone upon arriving to a close proximity to theRF tags/beacons installed in the area.

Special operation mode: Shopping: provides navigation to the specialsale item in a department store.

Special operating mode: Museums: provides navigation and interactiveinformation from the museum's exhibition to the “user's” cellular phonedevice via Bluetooth interface.

Special operating mode: Parking: describe in 2 patent applications,provide empty parking space detection and navigation.

Special operating mode: Nav store provides navigation inside astore/department store to a specific department/aisle or specificproduct, with an option for advertising method and special promotion italso provides the business owner with ability to know, in a way ofautomatic notification when the “user” cellular phone device is inproximity to the local area for automatic delivery of informationrelated to the store/business owner such information can be but is notlimited to deals, coupons, special and even statistically informationabout the “user” habit.

Every Bluetooth device's tag/beacon has a unique ID. This ID can be usedfor locating the tag/beacon and providing location information of themobile device in the proximity.

A relevant location scenario is that of searching for a certain tag. Therelevant location scenario is the most accurate and the faster responsetime and is one solution for indoor navigation and locating when andwhere each tag/beacon ID is a known address position-waypoint.

Why use Bluetooth for indoor location?

Bluetooth has some advantages in the context of indoor location. Theseinclude:

Bluetooth uses RF—in the 2.4 GHz ISM band, specifically. In thisfrequency range, radio waves penetrate obstacles, such as walls andhuman bodies, albeit with a substantial loss.

This has two implications:

Availability of a “high-there” application based upon receipt of asignal from the tags/beacons.

Tags/beacons can be placed relatively far apart (typical range is 10-15meters, i.e. not necessarily of one in each way point).

Bluetooth is ubiquitous-Bluetooth chipsets are being implantedeverywhere nowadays (phones, accessories, computing devices, etc), thetags/beacon can be implements anywhere, inside buildings roads insidecars transportation entities, inside home for home automationtriggering, or in any kind of business triggering application or andlink to exiting system.

The fact that a Bluetooth location system can locate any Bluetoothenabled device, makes it more cost-effective. This means that anincreasing fraction of humans and mobile assets around would becomelocatable in a Bluetooth covered site, with no additional hardware cost(no tags/beacons attached). The only need is to pre-register thesedevices. Bluetooth is a low power technology-tags need recharge, approx.once a week (or longer, depends on the usage scenario). Non-tags (e.g.BT enabled phones) are being recharged anyway on a regular basis, sothey do not need special recharges. If they are being used for location,the fraction added to their usual (no Bluetooth) power consumption isrelatively small.

Bluetooth is a low cost technology anticipating high production volumes(hundreds of millions annually) leading to sub-$5 per chip. Several ICmanufactured have already met this goal. This would eventually result ina low price for the Bluetooth tags/beacons, if and when Bluetoothlocation systems would become sufficiently ubiquitous. Bluetooth is amulti-functional communication standard—location is only one of theservices that can be supported by a Bluetooth infrastructure. The sameinfrastructure can be used to provide additional network services,particularly remote monitoring and control or just trigger link toexiting system. In addition, Bluetooth provides voice and IP services(although for the later, WLAN is typically more suitable).

In open spaces, relatively free of obstructions and walls (e.g. a largewarehouse or a public hotspot), Bluetooth alone would suffice to providea −2 meter error range.

Waypoint Navigation

A waypoint is a fixed location with known address location, longitudeand latitude and coordinates. The navigation system is capable ofstoring a database of waypoints for the following purpose:

Waypoints mark a destination, a point along the way to a destination, ora point of reference. Normally, in navigating, a “route” consists of oneor more waypoints. To traverse a route, the user navigates to thenearest waypoint, then to the next one in turn until the destination isreached. The system has the ability to compute a great-circle routetowards a waypoint, enabling them to find the shortest route even overlong distances. The system enables users to locate a destination on amap or indoor floor plan or indoor image and define it as a waypoint.The system is intended for navigation; it can generate a suggested routebetween two waypoints, based on the cartographic database. The systemindicates the user's current location and gives advance notice of anupcoming point.

Because the system knows the waypoint positions, and the distancebetween them, it is easy to determine the “user's” exact location.

Map Matching

The navigation solution is further enhanced, although it is notessential, when the system knows that the person or object being locatedis traveling along known routes on a map; for example, the system canassume that people can only follow certain routes in a mall. This ispriority information that can be used to “force” the estimated positionto be on the nearest point on the possible routes, note that it iseasier to predict indoor than outdoor.

The constraints of indoor construction similarly can be used to refineestimates of the position of a person or object moving within abuilding-people and objects do not pass through walls, they pass alongcorridors and through doorways. It is a best solution for a system incase of an emergency or for a system for homeland security or a systemto locate and inform the subway location, a good example is the hotelexit floor map.

Configuration and Use

In the indoor application, instead of GPS, the system uses knownwaypoint positions that are manually detected and identified as ademonstration of the concept of using another sensing method, such as RFtags/beacon, to detect and identify the location and the waypoints.Theoretically, it would be possible to convert the waypoint positionsinto GPS coordinates and emulate an external GPS data source.

This system can be useful for providing navigation to first responderpersonnel indoors waypoints have been installed in a particular buildingin the form of RF tags/beacons whose identities are associated withlocations—the meaning of identifier, it may be possible to associatemagnetic anomaly information with individual tags as well.

One of the important features of the indoor navigation techniques willenhance the ability of tactical team's first response team to navigatewithin the buildings in which it has been deployed. RF (Bluetooth)Tag/bacon devices commonly are attached to persons or to moveableobjects, so that the objects can be tracked using fixed readers(special-purpose radios) at different locations. This is the most commonindoor navigation that exists today.

The navigation method is the “flip side” of this practice and is basedon the concept that the detection of an RF (Bluetooth) device, or RFTags/beacon, in a known, fixed location, by a moving reader, such as aBluetooth enabled cellular phone or other Bluetooth enabled device,provides a precise location of a person or a moving object, by thecarrier of the telephone or device, who can supply indoor navigationwithout GPS.

The navigation method provides a low-cost, reliable system forfirefighters and other first responders, inside buildings, to navigate,where a GPS is not reliable-indeed, the GPS signal may have beendisabled temporarily to prevent-exploitation by terrorists, or even morelikely no signal can be received at all inside a building.

The navigation system foresees this limitation of GPS based systems, andis intended for an environment that is potentially much less “friendly”to RF signals, the environment inside a building that first respondersencounter may contain smoke, dust, or flames, and is intended toleverage advances in RF/Bluetooth tag/beacon technology. The navigationsystem will exploit the capability of storing critical buildinginformation, such as the floor maps and the emergency escape plans, forretrieval and navigational assistance via a Bluetooth enabled cellularphone, when and where it is needed,

Moreover the navigation system can serve as a navigator for theemergency exit route when and where needed. Each user can load theemergency exit floor plan and escape with the knowledge of his exactlocation in that route.

Aspects of the scenarios to be included:

Identifies and tracks the user (a first response team member) option touse the cellular phone as a beacon by himself.

Provides the user with navigation information and directions for safelyexiting the building.

Provides location information of all team members, via an ad hoc networkof radio terminals that combine RF/Bluetooth and allow communicationchat and messaging between the team members without need for Internet orcell communication such option is not limit to the first response teambut to a user in emergency and non-emergency use.

From the outset, the navigation system was designed with the capabilityto utilize existing technology so it can be deployed as a stand-alonesystem, or in tandem a link with existing systems. The system focuses onemploying technology that is already in place that simply needs to beexpanded.

With the implementation of the navigation system, a FIRST RESPONSE TEAMwill be empowered to navigate and find its way in a case of emergency ora disaster. This capability can be a critical life-saving power in modemcongested urban living conditions, not available before now.

It is believed that the implementation of the navigation system willassist counter-terrorism activities and more importantly will help thefirst response teams to save the lives of people trapped insidebuildings.

Conclusion

The Bluetooth technology offers few unique advantages: one is theability to scan and locate a small tag/beacon installed in an local areausing the tags/beacon ID a low cost and battery power and low batteryuse and the use of the newest Bluetooth devices (any Bluetooth enableddevice that is not a tag/beacon, e.g. most of the newer mobile phones)can be used as a tag/beacon.

The other advantage is the multiservice nature of the Bluetoothinfrastructure that enables using the tags/beacons for other purposes,such as for navigating, remote monitoring and control, a triggeringmechanism to application and system even a link to existing systems andfor a variety of messaging a push information and local based services.

Location based services are rapidly expanding. Outdoor locationtechnologies are mainly based on GPS technologies. GPS cannot performproperly indoors, and is therefore inadequate. As a result, indoorlocation systems are appearing on the market.

The need for a system arises from various market segments andapplications. One example in the market is the GPS based systems thatuse integrated positioning and navigation systems based on GPS receiversas the primary positioning technology. Subsequent to the events ofSeptember 11th' the Federal government mandated that GPS capability bebuilt in to all cellular phones.

However, the fact that uninterrupted satellite reception is not possiblein many locations is a major limitation of GPS based systems. Denselypopulated areas and radio-frequency-signal shadowed locations, such asurban centers (a.k.a. “urban canyons”), generally do not allow properoperation of GPS, yet it is in these locations that the need isgreatest.

There is a clear need for a cost effective system that maintainsperformance indoors, in urban canyons and in city centers.

The disclosed application includes finding a solution to this task byproviding a system and method to generate automatically the waypointalong the user route ether indoor, or outdoor.

The disclosed application addresses the task of interactively guidingthe user to a desired indoor and outdoor destination.

The method for mapping an indoor environment is provided. A user devicemay receive an indication of a starting point on a floor plan. The userdevice may prompt the user to travel in a particular direction, or thedirection of travel may be determined by the user device in response tothe user indicating a second location after the user has traveled to thesecond location.

As the user travels from the starting point in the designated direction,the user device may gather information about the indoor environment. Forexample, the user device may gather wireless signal strength data, fromproximity RF beacons Wi-Fi or Bluetooth while the user travels in thedesignated direction.

The user device may associate the gathered information with the path theuser traveled from the starting point to the ending point. The operationcan be done at the user device—the cellular handheld, the associationmay also be performed by a remote server using data provided by the userdevice.

As the user travels from point to point, the user's device may indicatethe area for which valid location information is available based on thepath the user traveled and the information the user collected.

The method may include displaying a floor plan image or floor mapping orthe floor indoor view—the floor images corresponding to an indoorlocation, receiving a first input to indicate a first location on thefloor plan image, gathering initial location information at the firstlocation, and generating an indoor map, using a processor, using theinitial location information wherein the indoor map includes anassociation of the initial location information with the first location.

The method may further include repeating the location informationgathering process at a new location to associate new locationinformation with the new location in the indoor map.

The method may include gathering additional location information as theuser travels from the first location to a second location, receiving asecond input to indicate the second location on the floor plan image,determining a path from the first location to the second location, andassociating the additional location information with at least onelocation within the map corresponding to the path.

The method may include prompting the user to walk in a straight linewhen traveling from the first location to the second location.

The method may include providing instructions to a user to travel in aparticular direction. The location information may be wireless signaldata associated with one or more RF wireless beacons installed in thelocal area. The first input may include performing a selection operationwith an indicator placed on the floor plan image.

The method may also include providing a visual indication on the floorplan image of the path. The visual indication may indicate an area ofthe indoor map where the location information identifies a particularlocation. The building floor plan may be received from a remote viaInternet or cellular communication as part of the mapping and navigationapplication.

The method may also include determining an approximate locationdetermine by proximity to the RF beacons, providing the approximatelocation to the remote server, receiving a list of floor plansassociated with indoor environments proximate to the approximatelocation, and selecting the building floor plan from the list. Themethod may include identifying the user's direction of travel by atleast one of determining a relative orientation using the first locationand the second location, or using at least one of an user devicebuilt-in sensors, accelerometer, a gyroscope, or a compass.

The method may include determining a location precision for the datagathering operation, and using the location precision to determine alocation resolution for the indoor map. The location precision may bedetermined using a number of available RF wireless beacons for whichsignal strength data and the beacons ID are available. The locationprecision may determine at least one of the size of an indicator forindicating the current location or the accuracy radius circle, or thewidth of a stripe for indicating an area of the indoor map for which thelocation information has been gathered and will display overly on thefloor map image map building map. The method may include determining acoverage level of the indoor map compared to the floor plan images.

The navigation system and method automatically updates waypoints, wheneach Point Of Interest (POI) will have an RF tag/beacon that willbroadcast an RF ID signal that will provide an instant detection, thenavigation system will execute the specified file/program that willtrigger automatically, executing a waypoint generation program.

For some years, local governments in cooperation with various FM radiostations and recently a navigation system have been putting together anautomated way to get real-time traffic data into cars so drivers canavoid traffic. Real time traffic information includes news such as:congestion, construction, traffic accidents, recommended alternativeroutes, recent navigation systems depend on fix sensors or camera andsome navigation on manual information provided by the users/drivers.

A tag/beacon will be installed at the location or at each Point OfInterest (POI). The tag/sensor will broadcast RF signal contain ID to berecognized by the mobile phone and such information (the RF beacon ID)will transfer automatically via the user mobile phone to the providedlocation detection of the user as well as statistically informationabout the possible “traffic” in the area/road, such method can beextremely helpful to manage and control transportation system.

The “user” will no longer need to enter his way-points manually and thenwait for the providers of maps or GPS to update their maps with theinformation (this can take about a year in some cases). This way the“user” will receive the information that he needs when he needs it andwhere he needs it upon entering an area with tags/beacons, providing anautomatic “check-in” to the user and the facility business.

Again, no communication is need to be established between thetags/beacon and the user mobile device and the detection can be donewithout any communication at all, In the event that more information isrequired it may be necessary to connect to the Internet website.

It is believed that sooner or later it will be a standard procedure toinstall a tag/sensor on every location of interest (waypoint) or anyplace on road indoor and even outdoor or any business will providewaypoint information to the “users”. Most stores or POI/waypoints willbe willing to pay for a tag/beacon or pay subscription fee to be on themapping system on the local area that will show their location andinformation on a map. Or they will pay for an annual listing (similar tothe yellow pages).

The System can interface with existing GPS mapping outdoors as well asindoors, it can switch automatically where the user outdoor to receivean outdoor map and information based on GPS and when in the indoor toreceive an indoor mapping and indoor navigation based on RF beaconsdetections.

Presently GPS providers, map providers and search engines provide: CityNavigator and Metro Guide Maps that contain many thousands ofattractions.

These include: Food and Lodging, Attractions, Entertainment, Shopping,Services, Transportation, Emergency, and Government offices. In mostareas, the maps provided are not updated and sometimes providemisleading information. Some of the waypoints listed appear to be veryold and the information associated with them is not update. ListedAttractions include theme parks, museums, libraries, schools, parks andsuch. This feature is very useful in an unfamiliar area.

Waypoints will be located automatically in the local area and plotted onthe map screen. The waypoints can be stored on the local map at thehandheld phone for future access.

The navigation system will revolutionize the GPS based systems and themapping industry, from GPS, mapping companies' communication providers,car manufacturers to yellow pages and local guides; for the first timethe user of a GPS navigation system will have an easy, reliable way toreach a destination inside buildings facilities—the indoor world.

The most common problem with today's GPS based systems is indoors wherethe navigation and mapping is not existing. The navigation systemprovides the solution for this problem. Using the navigation system, theuser will know where he is, be able to identify “landmarks” around himaccurately, and receive automatic updates directly from the Points OfInterest (POI) in the vicinity that get automatic notifications abouthis presence in their area.

The navigation system is based on RF tag/beacons, each tag or waypointshas its own ID (identifying the waypoint by type, address, etc.). Thebeacon will broadcast, via RF the ID to be scan and pickup by theBluetooth device, provides a detection and trigger a locationdetermination as a floating information display on the indoor mapreferenced to the user's location. The floating display will provideautomatic waypoint updates around the local area and will allow the userto search local providers (waypoints/store), even without anyconnections, no communication, Internet, or cellular is needed todetermine the location as well as accuracy radius circle. The Internetweb communication provides more information such as push notificationand messaging and local based services such as deals, advertisingdirectly and automatically to the user's mobile phone.

Once you are in the vicinity of your destination and, a notification issent automatically to the business Internet or web site and you willautomatically receive the facility information along your waking routeand in all directions around you.

No further action is required, there is no need to send a request or toaccess and search a database or central system.

Other systems must send a request to a central system, or to a database,and then must wait for a response. This takes time!

The disclosed unique approach results in no delay or waiting forcommunication or authentication and access time as there is no realcommunication between the tags/beacons and the user mobile device, theresult are instantaneous association, directly between the tags/beaconsand the user's mobile or navigation device

The RF tags/beacons broadcast their ID to be scanned and pickup by theuser's mobile phone to identify the location of the user as proximity tothe tags/beacon.

Additionally, the ID identifies the type of facility, store etc., e.g.restaurants, men's wear, women's wear etc. and the location in thestore, e.g. front, back etc.

Each facility can provide information about the store e.g., automaticwaypoint information as the user's presence triggers initiatesautomatically notifies the business or waypoint in the local area.

Do to the limitation of the mapping system currently used by the GPSnavigation system the associated display method is our unique way tobridge existing devices like cellular phones, in-car navigation andother Bluetooth devices. The system provides an associated overlaynavigation display method as a real-time floating display, or as awaypoint to overcome the limitations of GPS based systems and theexisting mapping systems; especially indoors where each waypoint will bedisplayed over mapping or floor map images.

The display method is one unique way to bridge existing devices likecellular phones, as a real-time floating overlay on a directionalcircular display to overcome the limitations of GPS based systems andthe existing mapping systems.

The overlay add-up device/display works like a VOR and provides add-updisplay shows automatically the user location in the immediate area in acircle represent a radius of accuracy and proximity distance from thelocal detect beacon/tag.

The overlay displays over an existing navigation system, portable deviceor cellular phone without GPS support providing a circle that shown thelocation accuracy of the user on the local map.

The fact is: no digital maps are entirely accurate. A user needs to knowwhich map makers are used by the product that they are interested in andcheck the maps for the area that they are concerned about. In additionsome map databases are created from vector data while others are justscanned copies of paper maps. In addition to mapping data these same mapmakers can often provide Points Of Interest (POI) data. However, asoftware company might use the maps from one company and the poi datafrom another. POI data normally takes three forms. One is publicbuildings, parks, airports, and possibly geographic objects. A second isgovernment locations that include specialized points lists like markerbuoys, and airplane markers. Finally, there are commercialestablishments that usually include some information about their productand contact data. Note that the location of commercial places is oftenderived from the street address and is not based on the actual lat/Ionlocation. Moreover there is the sky-high cost of digitizing and updatingthe poi and the waypoints.

The task is to provide a solution when the “user” will receive real-timePoint Of Interest (POI) or waypoints in the area where he isautomatically associate with a located proximity beacons/tags in thearea, the waypoints information can be information that are real-timeinformation updates in real-time and can be changed according to thewaypoints and all according to a proximity detection of the RFtags/beacons ID in the area, the information can be used in theseexample applications:

The user may wish to locate an empty available parking space in hisvicinity. Just think of the empty parking spaces as waypoints theparking space occupied with RF beacon and sensor to find if the parkingis empty, and the RF beacon will broadcast ID only when the parkingspace is available, the user Bluetooth device will scan the area for thebroadcast beacons to find the available parking, such method describe inmore details with U.S. Pat. No. 7,899,583 (included in the claim ofpriority and issued to the Applicant and incorporated herein byreference).

The user may wish to see and locate the real estate property availablein his area according to his location, where an RF beacon can beinstalled in each real estate property to trigger more information tothe user/possible client when he reach proximity to the property.

The user may wish to locate a specific store in a shopping mall, eachstore in a mall is a waypoint, or a particular aisle in a departmentstore, or a specific item on a shelf.

The user may wish to locate a specific conference room in a conventioncenter, or a Point Of Interest (POI) in an amusement park or a Point OfInterest (POI) in a museum.

The user may wish to find the emergency exit route in a time ofemergency or the first response team needs to navigate in a facility inan emergency situation.

The user may be looking for a train location in a station, or stops in asubway or underground train system. All of that is updated waypoints inreal-time.

It is believed that the automatic waypoint updates revolutionize the GPSand Navigation Industry.

For the first time the user will know what he wants and when he wantsand according to his location

The local business owner can introduce his content in real-time to the(navigation) users in his area automatically when the user access orenter to his store the contents can be deals, coupons, specials andprovides more information to user about the business, the business inturn can benefit from statistically information about the client/s. suchas habits, profile, loyalty and rewards.

The GPS and navigation industry can tap to the huge local advertisingmarket (estimated at 134 B in US alone . . . )

Automatic notification of user existence in the place/store/facility

Mall/store navigation solution inside mall/store.

RTP-return to parking-locate the place that you parked your car.

For example, a typical application could be:

A pedestrian asks the way in a mall to a specific store.

A pedestrian asks the way inside the store, to a specific aisle orproduct.

A shopper in a department store asks for a specific department.

A pedestrian asks the way to a Point Of Interest (POI). In an emergency,the first response team has to navigate inside a smoke filled building.

A store owner can use the notification and the knowledge of existencefor loyalty and rewards

The beacons ID can trigger a link to exiting software and aware thelocal system of the user existence—such as:

A traveler is check in into a hotel/resort, the hotel/resort canprovides with automatic check-in and interface to the hotel/resort frontsystem.

A traveler is check-in into a flight in the airport, the airlineprovides the traveler with automatic check in to the flight when thetraveler reach close proximity to a RF local beacon.

A customer are check into a restaurant or food service, the businesswill recognize the customer when he in proximity to the local RF beacon.

The pedestrian reaches an advertising area or billboard that can berecognized by the user by being in a close proximity to the advertisingarea and provide the user with customize personalize advertising oroffer.

A customer is entering a store/bank/facility front to be recognized foradditional information or services.

The RF beacons/tags can serve to track employee's work times, includinga check-in and checkout time from a designate area.

The infrastructure provided by local RF beacons can be integrated into alocal dating system.

The local RF beacons with associate with the user mobile can createvirtual secure zone for child or elderly or any care monitoring.

The location of the user as associate with the local beacons can beinterface with social networking.

The RF beacons can be part of solving the parking problems where eachparking location can be user an RF beacon with additional sensor to findif the parking area is empty and provide parkinginformation—nav4parking. the RF beacon will broadcast ID only when theparking space is available, the user Bluetooth device will scan the areafor the broadcast beacons to find the available parking, such methoddescribe in more details in U.S. Pat. No. 7,899,583 issued to theInventor and claimed as priority herein.

The RF beacon can be installed or be a part of a vehicle to provide carapplication like payments security car broadcasting car tracking carcommunication and automatic car counting to provide transportationmanagements with statistically information automatically.

A system and method to provide a user information which is related tothe Point Of Interest (POI), the navigation system provides detectionand navigation references, position determination and informationrelated to the object-Point Of Interest (POI) directly and automaticallyto the user interface-cellular phone upon arriving to a close proximityto the RF tags/beacons installed in the area.

Moreover the application provides more than simply an icon.

At present, no prior art device utilizes the capabilities to display areal-time representation of navigating and get an update directly fromthe waypoints. Also most systems are designed for the old query typesearch where interface to Internet and or database central system isneeded.

The navigation system automatically detects a signal directly from theRF tags/beacons installed in the waypoints, no communication needs to beestablished between the mobile phone and the RF tag/beacon not evencellular communication, and no pairing needed. Other systems must havebandwidth available, over which to send a request to a central system orto a database and then must wait for a response, or they need Internetconnections. This takes time!

Even if the other systems have bandwidth, they are still based on theexisting search concept where the user submits a query, searches andwaits for the response. This is impractical. The navigation systemprovides the information automatically, without submitting any query,and the response is according to the user's location based on RFtags/beacons installed in the local area.

Again, most of the existing prior arts are based either on a GPS basedsystem or the existing car navigator, that depends on a GPS too.

And the existing mapping that these systems use has the samelimitations, described previously, and is impractical.

This navigation system bridges the gap between the GPS based navigationand provides a complete solution.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,031,875 Ellenby et al. describes a pointing system foraddressing objects, and provides a system and method based on GPS andInternet/database communication, it is not exactly a navigation but aninformation based system that need the GPS to locate the user locationso indoor services is likely out of the questions and the need forcommunication as well with GPS limits its availability and accuracy. Itis not a real-time update of the waypoints and needs Internet and orcentral database communication.

The most common problem with today's GPS based systems is that themapping and the waypoints are not updated on a timely basis. In mostareas, the maps provided are not updated and sometimes providemisleading information. Some of the waypoints listed appear to be about2 years old. The new service like Google Earth provides satellite imagesthat are almost 2 years old and for sure can't provide on-line real-timeaccurate picture of the existing area and the waypoints.

The disclosed technology offers a solution to this task by providing asystem and method to generate automatically the waypoint along the userroute ether indoor or outdoor the update is based on determine locationof the mobile device indoor in proximity to installed RF beacons and theupdate information triggered by the location determination, such methodis not exist in today navigation or mapping especially indoor.

The disclosed technology offers a solution that interactively guides theuser to a desired indoor and outdoor destination.

The navigation system and method automatically updates waypoints, bymeans of an interface to an existing GPS based system, when each PointOf Interest (POI) will have an RF tag/sensor that will broadcast an RFsignal that can be converted to a GPS waypoint, In response to the RFsignal (from the tags/sensors,) the navigation system will execute thespecified file/program that will trigger automatically, executing awaypoint generation program.

For some years, local governments in cooperation with various FM radiostations have been putting together an automated way to get real-timetraffic data into cars so drivers can avoid traffic. Real time trafficinformation includes news such as: congestion, construction, trafficaccidents, and recommended alternative routes.

An RF tag/beacon Bluetooth and or Wi-Fi will be installed at each PointOf Interest (POI). When each Point Of Interest (POI) will have an RFtag/beacon that will broadcast an wireless RF signal with ID that willprovide an instant detection, the navigation or the application forlocal based services system will execute the specified file/program thatwill trigger automatically, executing a waypoint generation program andat the same time provides the business owner a notification of existenceof the user in his vicinity to allow the business to provide the userwith relevant messages or offers, more information or push message tothe user cellular phone just by being in proximity to the RF beacon.

The “user” will no longer need to enter his way-points manually and thenwait for the providers of maps or GPS to update their maps with theinformation (this can take about a year in some cases). This way the“user” will receive the information that he needs when he needs it andwhere he needs it.

It provides trigger information according to the beacon/tag, directlyfrom the local area business waypoints and to the user's display device,the detection can be done without any communication In the event thatmore information is required and the business need to provide moreinformation it may be necessary to connect to the Internet, its allowinteraction/engagement as proximity to the RF Bluetooth beacon cantrigger a specific application functionalities and provides automaticnotification “I am here” to the business owner.

It is believed that sooner or later it will be a standard procedure toinstall a tag/beacon on every location of interest (waypoint) or anybusiness will provide a waypoint information to the to provide “users”with the information. Most stores or POI/waypoints will be willing topay for a tag/beacons or pay subscription fee to be on the GPS systemproviders that are able to show their location and information on a map.Or they will pay for an annual listing (similar to the yellow pages).

The System can interface with existing GPS.

Present GPS providers, map providers and search engines providers: CityNavigator and Metro Guide Maps contain many thousands of attractions.

These include: Food and Drink, Lodging, Attractions, Entertainment,Shopping, Services, Transportation, Emergency and Government offices.

In most areas, the maps provided are not updated and sometimes providemisleading information. Some of the waypoints listed appear to be about2 years old. Listed Attractions include theme parks, museums, libraries,schools, parks and such. This feature is very useful in an unfamiliararea. Waypoints will be located automatically in the local area andplotted on the map screen. The waypoints can be stored on the GPSdatabase for future access or store at the user mobile device.

The navigation system will revolutionize the GPS based systems and themapping industry, from GPS, mapping companies' communication providers,car manufacturers to yellow pages and local guides; for the first timethe user of a GPS navigation system will have an easy, reliable way toreach a destination.

The most common problem with today's GPS based systems is that themapping and the waypoints are not updated on a timely basis. Thenavigation system provides a solution for this problem. Using thenavigation system, the user will know where he is, be able to identify“landmarks” around him accurately, and receive automatic updatesdirectly from the Points Of Interest (POI) in the vicinity.

The navigation system is based on RF tag beacons installed in the localarea, each tag or waypoints has its own ID (identifying the waypoint bytype, address, etc.). The tag beacon ID and proximity to the RF beaconswill allow local detection and interface with existing or indoorapplication and navigation, GPS based systems, as a floating informationdisplay on the GPS map referenced to the user's location. The floatingdisplay will provide automatic waypoint updates and will allow the userto search local providers (waypoints/store and more information aboutthe store/business, the detection allows the local business to have anautomatic notification about the user whereabouts in proximity to hisbusiness and allow him to provide the user with more information abouthis store/business/deals.

The fact is no digital maps are entirely accurate. A user needs to knowwhich map makers are used by the product that they are interested in andcheck the maps for the area that they are concerned about. In additionsome map databases are created from vector data while others are justscanned copies of paper maps. In addition to mapping data these same mapmakers can often provide Points Of Interest (POI) data. However, asoftware company might use the maps from one company and the poi datafrom another. POI data normally takes three forms. One is publicbuildings, parks, airports, and possibly geographic objects. A second isgovernment locations that include specialized points lists like markerbuoys and airplane marker. Finally, there are commercial establishmentsthat usually include some information about their product and contactdata. Note that the location of commercial places is often derived fromthe street address and is not based on the actual lat/Ion location.

Moreover there is the sky-high cost of digitizing and updating the poiand the waypoints.

The task is to provide a solution where the “user” will receivereal-time Point Of Interest (POI) or waypoints in the area automaticallyto his existing navigation system or to his cellular phone, thewaypoints information can be a real-time information update in real-timeand can be changed according to the waypoints.

A cellular phone application, which the user will scan the area forexiting RF Bluetooth beacons or Wi-Fi beacons will receive data and moreinformation utilizing the cellular phone's Bluetooth capability.

The system can trigger application as well as link to existing systemsand software. A notification can be sent to a web, email a cloudapplication or even social network, The navigation system will interfacewith existing in-car media system and in car navigation systems.

It is understood that the waypoint or Point of Interest (POI) will berepresented by the following suggested ID examples as part of the beaconID to be recognized by the user Bluetooth mobile device (cellularphone), according to the type of the POI:

Waypoint ID Code POI Type Cat. Type 32 Food/Restaurants Food 33 GasStation Information 34 ATM/Banks Finance 35 Department Store 36 ApparelStore 37 Sports Store/ Information 38 Books video Store 39 Jewelry Store40 Toys/Photo/Elect. Store 41 Music Store 42 Gifts Store 43 FurnishingStore 44 Service Service 45 Computers Store/Service 46Hairstyle/Cosmetics Store/Service 47 Office Office 48 Security/PoliceService/ Emergency 49 Children's program Service 50 Social AffairsReligious Service 51 Religion Religious 52 Phone Service 53 TravelTransportation Service 54 Parking Transportation Service 55 Guestservice Service 56 Library Service 57 Transportation Management Service58 Municipal 59 Post Office Service 60 Government 61 MarketStore/Service 62 Alarm Emergency 63 Emergency 64 Hotel resort and cruiseship 65 Education facility, school, university 66 Sport facility, sportsarena, stadium 67 Conference and show 68 Amusement park 69 Implements asmail and address 70 Implements in a road as road sign or transportationentity

Be remember that the ID above is only suggested example, the fact isthat part of the beacon ID will be to recognize the Facility/store typethe location to provide instant detection and location determination byjust being in a close proximity to the RF beacon in the area.

The navigation system enables remote and local update of the local floorplans and the information about the local area and waypoints business inthe area, when the location's indoor application can be triggered todownload at the destination. An example of this would be at the entranceof a shopping mall, department store, amusement park, museum, parkinggarage or the downtown area of a city where a sign or the shopping mallinformation sign will provides direct information a trigger to downloadthe local application.

The system can work inside a building whereas GPS cannot. Localdetection is obtained via popular Bluetooth interface.

The system provides information about each facility/store, includinginformation about the type of the facility, for example: type of storeor product etc., the information trigger to deliver to the user mobiledevice by being in proximity to the RF beacon ID that installed in thelocal area.

By providing the ability to locate a the user in an area using aBluetooth enabled device or a cellular phone with the navigationapplication, the system overcomes the anxiety of “Where am I” and alsofacilitates finding a parked car later via the RTP (Return to Parking)feature.

The system has the capability to perform all the functions of a searchand can become the “Next generation search out of the box”.

The navigation system can be an attractive addition to existingdeployments of Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi hotspots and a feature for business andcities that deploy Wi-Fi.

In case of an emergency or security situation, the system can provideauthorities with information.

Utilizing the navigation system, the facilities (waypoints) in thevicinity around the “user” car are displayed on a floating overlay usingeither a cellular phone application, or a standalone device, or anexisting installed navigation system with or without any mapping, theinformation can be pushed to the user's device when he in proximity tothe area.

The recent introduction of imagery services, such as Google Earth andits competitors, that are offered as an enhancement to GPS at a fee,still provide out of date information, with the unsatisfactory resultthat users encounter road changes and area development not shown on themaps and imagery.

The option of downloading a floor plan can be exercised either remotelyor locally as part of mapping or navigation application.

With the navigation system, the user will have the information that theywant, when they want it, where you they it . . . (and at an affordableprice) Once you are in the vicinity of your destination and you switchon your navigation device, you will automatically receive the facilityinformation along your waking route and in all directions around you.

Additionally, each facility type can be ID-coded apart of the beacon IDto identify the type of the store etc., e.g. restaurants, men's wear,women's wear etc. the store type, real estate property, garage salelocation, special sale and all up to date real time information thatcan't be displayed and located in today's navigation system, and tappingto the local business industry is known as local advertising.

Each ID-coded as part of the beacon ID can be trigger accessed to obtaincomplete information about the store e.g., automatic waypointinformation.

The system can be operate on a cellular phone, and navigation system andis not limited to a GPS navigation system.

Moreover, the navigation system can solve the “RTP” (Return to parking)problem, where many forget where they parked their car. The system hasan option to save the location on the “cellular phone-parking detector”application, which will make it easy to locate the parked car.

The navigation system is designed for global use and is not limited tomalls, stores, amusement parks, museums, sports stadiums etc. It can beimplemented in parking garages or parking spaces metered or not, almostanywhere and in any place even in any infrastructure.

It is envisioned that in the future all new construction/infrastructurewill have the beacons/tags included in the design or built in thestructure.

One feature of the proposed invention integrates the navigation as partof the NAV4 concepts where it will provide complete solutions for localnavigation in an area where the GPS and GPS mapping just can't provideaccurate and updated information that is so essential to the user.

A typical application is navigating a pedestrian in an environment likea mall, department store, specialty store, conference, trade show,amusement park, university, hospital, school, municipal building,museum, subway, train station, airport, down town center, any type ofparking facility . . . or any place when and where GPS cannot beprovided or is not accurate or precise enough. The system can be usedfor navigation by first responders to emergencies or disasters.

The navigation system is part of a broad suite of applications thatinclude a complete solution to the “user” from the time that he parks,or begins looking for a space to park his car, walking to the store/mallto when he wants to return to his parked car, looking for the place thathe parked.

The suite may include:

Parking detector- and navigation to the empty available parking space.

Nav4 mall/store navigation solution inside mall or store.

RTP-return to parking-locate the place that you parked your car.

For example, a typical application could be:

A pedestrian asks the way in a mall to a specific store.

A pedestrian asks the way inside the store, to a specific aisle orproduct.

A shopper in a department store asks for a specific department.

A pedestrian asks the way to a Point Of Interest (POI).

In an emergency, the first response team has to navigate inside a smokefilled building.

A system and method to provide user information which is related to thePoint Of Interest (POI)

The navigation system provides detection and navigation reference,position determination and information related to the object—Point OfInterest (POI) directly and automatically to the user interface-cellularphone without any communication help of Internet/web or cellular needed. . . .

Special operation mode:—Shopping—NAV4SALE—provides navigation to thespecial sale item in a department store. A new unique tool for thebusiness owner as well to the customers—to navigate and locate an itemin a store/mall that's on a special sale, will provide the “user” a wayto navigate in/out door for the “waypoint” represents the special sale,coupon, special event, promo etc. . . . an add-on to local advertising.

The local advertising market is estimated to be $134 Billion in the USalone . . . , the mapping is at the “forefront” of a local strategy. Dueto the lack of availability of the GPS indoors as well with thelimitation of its accuracy outdoors and the non-updated mapping that isprovided today by the mapping and GPS industry, there is no real tappingto this huge market.

The navigation system can bring a new life to the navigation and mappingindustry by providing a unique innovation that combines the GPS and theexisting navigation as well as the cellular phone users with an indoornavigation based on the local map/mall that will provide the user anavigation to his desire location in the mall/store to the rightstore/product even isle inside the store as well a new marketing tool tothe store/mall owner to get the customer with a new service. A newunique way to bring the customers to the product in sale . . . , directthe customer directly to the isle and to the product that you want tomove. The store will also have an option to deliver more content(advertising, sale, coupons, promo etc. . . . ) to the user when heapproaches the store or is already inside via push technology to theuser's Bluetooth enabled cellular phone.

Special operating mode:—Museums—NAV4Museums NAV SHOW and NAV CONFERENCEprovides navigation and interactive information from the museum's showor conference exhibition to the “user's” cellular phone device viaBluetooth interface.

Explore museum or conference show exhibits in a new unique and easy way,find your way around when navigating on the floor map of the museum orconference, indoor navigation, navigate to exhibits, restaurants, cafes,lavatories etc., all to the “user's” navigation or cellular phone.

Any museum, conference, or show provides the attended a map to theexhibits, some also provide additional audio device (headset) to getmore information on the exhibits.

The navigation system will provide a unique indoor tool that will allowthe attended to navigate the museum, conference or show in an easy waydirectly to his Bluetooth enabled cellular phone, when he reaches hisdesired exhibit he will allow to download directly to his cellular orBluetooth headset information about the exhibits. An indoor navigationto the exhibits as well to the restaurants, cafes, lavatories etc., allto the “user” navigation or cellular phone and based on the facilitymap.

Special operating Mode: Navtrain—For all the users of masstransportation system, the navigation system will allow, locate andpoint the “user” to the exact station or location on a route, an easyway to navigate in the train, subway, underground system, a new way of“sub-way” or bus mapping in/out door and directly to the user navigationor his cellular phone. Every day millions of people are using the masstransportation system, trains, subways, buses, each of the passengersdepend on the transportation map for the route information as well asschedules and additional services provided by the transportation system.Most of the passengers today carry with them a cellular phone.

The navigation system will provide the passenger with the navigationinside the transportation system directly to the passenger's Bluetoothenabled phone, the passenger will know the exact location/station on theroute as well with additional option information like schedules. A newadd-on service to the transportation providers as well to thepassengers, utilizes the indoor navigation method and the ability of thetransportation entity to use the RF beacon installed in a transportationfacilities to have add-on to transportation management control system.

Special operating mode:—Parking—NAV4PARKING describe in 2 patentapplications, provides empty parking space detection and navigation.where is the RF beacons can be part of solving the parking problemswhere each parking location can be user an RF beacon with additionalsensor to find if the parking area is empty and provide parkinginformation—nav4parking. the RF beacon will broadcast ID only when theparking space is available, the user Bluetooth device will scan the areafor the broadcast beacons to find the available parking, such methoddescribe in more details in U.S. Pat. No. 7,899,583 issued to theInventor and claimed as priority herewith.

A new generation of urban parking innovation that answers the mostdemanding need of any driver knowing where to park . . . , or moreprecisely, find and navigate to the empty parking spaces in and aroundthe driver. It will also provide the answer to “where did I park mycar?” syndrome, when returning to the parked car. In our society wheretime, convenience and comfort are precious commodities parking is amajor headache.

Parking Detection System is the next generation of urban parking and theanswer to the most demanding need of any driver—Where to park?

The navigation system provides a method of self organizing parkingsystem will enable municipalities and other parking authorities toeasily identify, exploit and manage revenue opportunities while at thesame time providing better service at a lower operating cost. With theimplementation of the navigation system, navigating and detectingavailable parking spaces will become part of the information revolution.

With the navigation system, drivers will save time and reduce thefrustration of hunting for parking spaces, and will also save money ongas use and car maintenance costs.

By using and modifying existing technology, our system will integrateeasily with other transportation and communication systems. The RFbeacon can be attached to existing parking meters, and in the futurewill interface with them and eventually will replace them.

Municipalities will have better control and centralized monitoring oftheir parking space inventory, resulting from the new generation ofurban parking.

Special operating mode: NAVRealty—A new unique tool to accommodate thereal estate industry by providing the seller/the real estate agent aswell as the real-estate customer to locate and navigate to the availablereal estate property in the “user” area, according to his location anddirectly to his GPS navigator and/or cellular phone. The user may wishto see and locate the real estate property available in his areaaccording to his location, where an RF beacon can be installed in eachreal estate property to trigger more information about the availableproperty to the user/possible client when he reach proximity to theproperty.

According to the Newspaper Association of America, the real estateadvertising market is estimated at $11.5 Billion. RecentlyMynewplace.com joined apartments.com and rent.com in the $3 Billionon-line apartment listing. ZILLOW, a new startup company just raised $32M in founding with the basic idea to put your house on GoogleEarth-satellite mapping. Google, Yahoo, AOL, ASK and Microsoft arelooking to develop real estate products.

The navigation system brings the listing to the user's hand, bycombining the GPS navigation and or cellular phone the user will beallowed to get the real estate property in his area updated according tohis location in real time.

The user even will have the option to “search out of the box” ofproperty in his area. The navigation system will serve as a new tool forthe real estate industry as well to the search engine for the benefit ofthe seller/the real estate agent as well as the real-estate customer.

Special operating mode:—NAV4STORE and NAVMALL provides navigation insidea store/department store to a specific department/aisle or specificproduct, with the option for advertising methods and special promotions.Explore the indoor mall or inside a department store, navigate to theright place or the store or the department that you need.

Navigate on the mall map/store mapping to find your way around usingyour cellular phone or navigation system without a GPS. It will be a newkind of service and a new marketing strategy for the malls/storebusiness owners. An add-on to local advertising.

The local advertising market is estimated to be $134 Billion in the USalone . . . , the mapping is at the “forefront” of local strategy. Dueto the lack of availability of the GPS indoors as well as the limitationof its accuracy outdoors and the non-updated mapping that is providedtoday by the mapping and GPS industry there is no real tapping to thishuge market.

The navigation system can bring a new life to the Navigation and mappingindustry by providing a unique innovation that combines the GPS and theexisting navigation as well as the cellular phone users with an indoornavigation based on the local map/mall that will provide the user anavigation to his desired location in the mall/store to the rightstore/product even isle inside the store as well a new marketing tool tothe store/mall owner to get the customer with a new service. The storewill also have an option to deliver more content (advertising, sale,coupons, promo etc.) to the user when he approach the store or isalready inside via push or Internet to the user's Bluetooth enabledcellular phone.

Special operating mode:—NAV Amusement Parks—Theme and amusements Parknavigation, navigate to your desired attraction as well as a new way toregister a “fast pass” kind off lane . . . all in an easy way to the“user” cellular phone without the need for GPS. Provides a new mediaand-on service.

Ever wonder what it will be like to navigate inside the amusements parkto the desired attraction, to know the schedules of the show events atthe attractions and even to get your “fast pass” from a remote insteadof standing in line . . . . With the navigation system, all this canbecome a reality and go directly to your cellular phone without the needfor a GPS. It is understood that the present invention can provide a newtool and service to the benefit of the amusements parks as well to theuser.

Special operating mode:—NAVSIGN—will pro-vide the user with automaticgenerating waypoint of the road sign to be displayed on the usernavigation and or cellular phone or the car navigation or on the dashboard as a way for secure driving, the information can interface to thecar computer for example automatically slowing down when it enters aschool zone-NAVSIGN.

Special operating mode:—NAV EMERGENCY: One of the important features ofour indoor navigation techniques will enhance the ability of the firstresponse team to navigate within the buildings in which it has beendeployed.

The navigation system provides a method that is a low-cost, reliablesolution for firefighters and other first responders, inside buildings,to navigate where a GPS is not reliable-indeed, the GPS signal may havebeen disabled temporarily to prevent exploitation by terrorists, or evenmore likely no signal can be received at all inside a building.

The navigation system envisioned this limitation of GPS based systems,and is intended for an environment that is potentially much less“friendly”, the environment inside a building that first respondersencounter may contain smoke, dust, or flames, and is intended toleverage advances in ubiquitous RF/Bluetooth tag technology.

The navigation system will exploit the capability of storing criticalbuilding information, such as the floor maps and the emergency escapeplans, for retrieval and navigational assistance via a Bluetooth enabledcellular phone, when and where it is needed. Moreover the navigationsystem can serve as a navigator for the emergency exit route when andwhere it is needed. Each user can download the emergency exit floor planand escape with the knowledge of his exact location in that route.

Aspects of the scenarios to be included:

Identifies and tracks the user (a first response team member).

Provides the user with navigation information and directions for safelyexiting the building.

Provides location information of all team members, via an ad hoc networkof radio terminals that combine RF/Bluetooth and allow communicationchat and messaging between the team members without need for Internet orcell communication such option is not limit to the first response teambut to a user in emergency and non-emergency use.

From the outset, the navigation system was been designed with thecapability to utilize existing technology so it can be deployed as astand-alone system, or in tandem with existing systems.

With the implementation of the navigation system, a FIRST RESPONSE TEAMwill be empowered to navigate and find its way in a case of emergency ora disaster. This capability can be a critical life saving power in modemcongested urban living conditions that was not available before now.

It is believed that implementation of the navigation system will assistcounter-terrorism activities and more importantly will help the firstresponse teams to save the lives of people trapped inside buildings.

Waypoint Navigation

A waypoint is a fixed location with known address location, longitudeand latitude and coordinates. The navigation system is capable ofstoring a database of waypoints for the following purpose:

Waypoints mark a destination, a point along the way to a destination, ora point of reference. Normally, navigating, a “route” consists of one ormore waypoints. To traverse a route, the user navigates to the nearestwaypoint, then to the next one in turn until the destination is reached.The system has the ability to compute a great-circle route towards awaypoint, enabling them to find the shortest route even over longdistances. The system enables users to locate a destination on a map anddefine it as a waypoint. The system is intended for navigation; it cangenerate a suggested route between two waypoints, based on thecartographic database. The system indicates the user's current locationand gives advance notice of an upcoming point.

Because the system knows the waypoint positions, and the distancebetween them it, it is easy to determine the “user's” exact location.

Map Matching

The navigation solution is further enhanced, although it is notessential, when the system knows that the person or object being locatedis traveling along known routes on a map; for example, the system canassume that people can only follow certain routes in a mall. This ispriori information that can be used to “force” the estimated position tobe on the nearest point on the possible routes. The constraints ofindoor construction similarly can be used to refine estimates of theposition of a person or object moving within a building-people andobjects do not pass through walls, they pass along corridors and throughdoorways. It is the best solution for a system in case of an emergencyor for a system for homeland security or a system to locate and informthe subway location, a good example is the hotel exit floor map.

In all, the unique method can be summarized as follows:

Direct communication between the area (way-points) and the user(navigation/GPS)

Automatic waypoint generation in real-time according to the user area

Indoor/outdoor even without GPS

Business model when the business/store owner will be subscribe to thelisting in the navigation/GPS mapping

Provide overlay floating model to be work even without mapping

No Internet or cellular communication is needed to detect and determinea user's location for additional location based services (LBS)information and push and or data Internet service needed.

Can interface to the existing system and link to existing software andhardware system.

The option of search is done locally on the user device, no centraldatabase or Internet search needed.

Bluetooth interface to cellular phone, will run as application on theBluetooth enabled device, such as a cellular phone.

Provides indoor navigation and indoor facility map and or floorimages—guide and navigation.

All global positioning system (GPS) navigation systems lack of real-timedisplays of the waypoints around the driver/user route, most likely, theinformation of GPS maps may be old and therefore inaccurate.

The navigation system provides a system and method for generating andupdating in real time a navigation's waypoints automatically along theroute according to the user associated with local detection of RFbeacons installed in the area and will for the first time trigger an adelivery of real time waypoint information along the user route directlyto the user's navigation and/or his cellular phone.

The navigation system will enable a circular omni-directional display onthe map or floor images floating overlay on existing navigation map orfloor mapping or indoor floor images

The waypoint data trigger generates directly from the way-points beaconsID, no Internet or cellular communication is needed to determine thelocation.

The navigation system will bridge the existing navigation system and GPSmapping to new real time information according to the user's location.

The navigation system will allow for the first time the navigation andGPS industry to tap to the local advertising market estimated to be $134Billion in the US alone . . . , the mapping is at the “forefront” oflocal strategy. Due to the lack of availability of the GPS indoors aswell as the limitation of its accuracy outdoors and the non-updatedmapping that is provided today by the mapping and GPS industry there isno real tapping to this huge market.

It is believed that the navigation system can bring a new life to theNavigation and mapping industry as well to the cellular providers byproviding a unique innovation that combine the GPS and the existingnavigation to the real time information directly from the waypoints,which can be referred to as a COOLSPOT.

This invention is directed generally to the field of navigation and,more particularly, to such a method to be used indoors or outdoors in amall, store, buildings, department stores, and to provide local basedservices directly to the user's navigation or cellular phone.

The proposed applications have identified and resolved a greatdeficiency in the technology available for local businesses. LBSrepresent a huge advertising and mapping market-estimated at over $150billion a year. It represents a big opportunity in the navigation marketthat has not been explored yet

Existing System and Industry Trends:

Local mapping today is mostly paper: Mall maps, store maps, mapping ofdepartment stores, commercial buildings, hospitals, schools, campuses,municipalities, shopping centers, downtown districts, indoor facilities,building maps, parking areas, parking garages, amusements parks, subwaysystems, transit maps, museum maps, area attractions maps, hotel andresort maps and even more importantly the emergency maps and proceduresposted in buildings.

Factors in Local Mapping

Local maps can be of either indoor or outdoor locations.

Local maps are available on paper, on the web, and in some cases on akiosk in the facility.

A high degree of accuracy is needed in order to provide usable maps fornavigation indoors-less than 10 m—to a store or even a parking space.

GPS cannot provide acceptably accurate mapping as it is only accurate towithin 100-200 feet. This is the reason that the GPS industry does notprovide this type of mapping. The same is true for cellular networkproviders, as the accuracy is also 100-300 feet, and then only when thesignal is available. Signal availability is often a problem indoors andalso when it is most needed—in an emergency situation when most of thecellular network fails due to high demand. Again, this is the reasonthat there is no local mapping available for cellular users. (Localmapping equates to accuracy in finding a store, room, or parking levelwithin 5 m.)

At this time there is no indoor navigation solution. The most recenttechnology provides access to a user's location through a combination ofgroup “social networking” and a “buddy list”.

Most technology available today attempts to “locate” a moving “user” inan area, the present invention reverses that idea and lets the “user”navigate the local area on the local maps, indoor navigation compared tooutdoor navigation, pedestrian navigation is more than locating andnavigating, most likely they are at or near their destination already.There are two possibilities, either they are in unknown surroundings andtheir task will be to explore the surrounding or they are looking for aspecific product-their defined goal is like buying a new pair of shoesor getting a book or just going to shop around, exploring a newlocation, new deals, specials sales, or simply sightseeing.

The theory is based on the belief that “you are what you do” meaning,the services, specials, sales, coupons, discounts, and the like are onekey element.

The main task of indoor navigation is to show the user where thespecials, sales, and coupons are and direct-navigate the user to themand at the same time provides the business owner with a marketing toolthat as of now is not exiting. The integration of multimodal journeyplanning and guidance to dynamic waypoints, sales, specials etc. . . .and complex public interchange facilities are not adequately addressedby existing systems.

In some aspects, indoor navigation looks simpler than outdoornavigation. For instance, the geographical area covered is much smallerand the expected speed of travel-walking—is much lower. However, otheraspects make indoor navigation much more challenging. First among theseis the unsuitability of GPS and related technologies. Second is that ina complex indoor environment the requirements are more stringent. Forexample, vertical positioning of the topology and the need for accuracyless than 10 m—to the store, the product, and even to the aisle or theparking space-cannot be achieved with today's existing system.

The indoor market represents much greater potential than outdoornavigation, as on average people spend more than 90% of the time indoors. . . .

The Objectives and Goals Behind This Concept: The technology behind thenavigation system is quite simple-a direct communication between theuser's device/cellular phone, Bluetooth enabled device, and a Bluetoothtags/sensors/beacons installed in a known location in anarea/building/store/facility without relying on GPS, centralizedservers, Internet bandwidth or even cellular communication-they can besupportive but are not essential.

The main concept is to use existing off-the-shelf technology (Bluetooth)with small modification and devices with a minimal cost of deploymentand to provide a simple indoor/pedestrian technology which can deliversaccuracy with an integrated suite of applications especially designedfor the user/shopper indoors, the system is based upon RF beaconsBluetooth or Wi-Fi installed in the local area to be scan by the userdevice—cellular phone and use the proximity scan beacon ID and signalstrength to provides an instant detection a notification of existence tothe business owner and trigger delivery of update local basedinformation all without even exchanging a real communication (no paringetc. needed) with the proximity beacons.

The System Includes:

Local mapping or local floor images—the indoor view of the facility aspart of the application, the facility can offer a download orparticipating from a proximity information sign or thestore/mall/building information to trigger download the application orability to pre load the maps as part of navigation or mappingapplication before reaching the area or download from the web accordingto location determine by the RF beacons.

Ability to have special navigation software either as an add-on toexisting navigation on the user's cellular phone or existing navigationsystem (car, mobile) using the Bluetooth beacons to determine the exactlocation and trigger applications.

Ability to deploy Bluetooth beacons in the local area where the beaconwill broadcast ID to be known the location-waypoints and triggeradditional information and or local based applications and to providethe infrastructure needed to guide navigate in the area. A very low costand fast deployment beacon system.

The ability to use the log of the “user” Bluetooth ID or the BluetoothID as a key (NOT THE CELLULAR NUMBER) for future marketing purposes orfor emergency use. This aggregation of data with association toproximity Bluetooth beacons ID will be in valuable to retailers,business etc. Bluetooth enabled cellular phones can be used as beacons.

The beacons-parts of the navigation system are Bluetooth tags/beaconsinstalled in known locations in the area/facility and represent“waypoints” where is the beacon ID can represent the facility type,store/special sales, places etc. and the location in the facilitylocation . . . .

The scanner detection part of the application—whenever a mobile phone ormobile device with a Bluetooth switched the Bluetooth on and loaded withthe application, it will periodically scan the area for Bluetoothbeacons; proximity to a tag/beacon and the tags/beacons ID as well withsignal strength will determine the “user” location on the area/facilitymap and will trigger an automatic notification automatic check-in to thebusiness owner to trigger application with possible a link to existingsystem to provide the user and the business owner additional informationjust by being there an use the method above.

The navigation—can be plotted between way-points/store/places on themap.

In regards to the sale sense-marketing tools, the system works bypassively observing the initial part of the scanning of movement. Theproposed system does not monitor or listen to conversations or textmessages. Nor does the proposed applications transmit or intercept anyinformation or interfere with the mobile network operators in any way.The navigation system is a scanning detector (not a receiver ortransmitter) which can observe the unique Bluetooth ID/key set of thedevice (not a telephone number or name . . . ) with association to thebeacons ID which the device was near and aggregate resultant data to beserver for habit and/or preference for triggering content delivery.

Sales sense represents a method to use dynamic user input profiling withproximity beacon ID installed in the known location indoors and outdoorsfor empowered presence and trigger content delivery for a real lifeinteraction and all under the user's complete control and withoutcompromising his privacy. The paradigm of proximity-based discovery andcommunication enabled by Bluetooth technology can be very relevant inAmbient Intelligence as an enabler for a situated interaction.

The navigation system explores the use of predefine user input (userprofile or preference) as a key driver for situated interaction andtrigger content delivery according to the user profile/preference. Theapproach is to use of RF Bluetooth beacons installed in a known locationin a local area to trigger action switch associates the user cellularphone ID and or profile/preferences beyond self-exposure and introducesa method that can trigger actions.

The approach to the use of Bluetooth ID of the beacon beyondself-exposure and introduces as a technique in which the system canrecognize the Bluetooth ID as explicit instructions to triggeractions/process.

Firstly, because it has an extremely Low entry barrier, Bluetooth is awidely available technology. Most of all phones include the Bluetooth,and setting new Bluetooth device ID is normally a relatively simple taskthat can be accomplished with the base functionality of any mobilephone. This easy availability is of huge importance in enabling socialpractices around the technology and represents a major difference toother sensing and interaction approaches that, albeit moresophisticated, may require specific hardware or software in personaldevices. Secondly, the use of Bluetooth presence for situatedinteraction combines very well implicit and explicit forms ofinteraction, in fact blurring the distinction between them. Simply byscanning the proximity Bluetooth device, people are already part of thesituation and implicitly engaging with the system.

This continuous, flow of presence information can be fundamental in theaggregation of situated content and may act as an important catalyst formore explicit forms of interaction. This is what mainly differentiatesinteractions based on Bluetooth presence from other interactions.

The chosen methodology combines a user define profile encode into theBluetooth device by setting up a user like VIN number, with user privacyas a priority, the profile is encoded into the user Bluetooth devicewith an algorithm sequence protecting the user's privacy.

It provides important practical implementation of the Technique and onits usability within the complex set of social phenomena thatcharacterize situated interaction in a public places withoutcompromising the user privacy. Its effectiveness and simplicity can makeit easily adoptable for applications like local social networkinginteractions, near field communication like secure transactions, paymentmethods, secure recognized methods and trigger secure processes anddelivery of direct content according to the user profile or preference,all again without compromised user privacy and provides the user withcomplete control all the time. The method can be integrated and provideprivacy and secure transaction to empower application that may otherwiseexploit user ID, his profile and privacy as such the method can providesa secure payments transactions.

Every day millions of people access the Internet and enter theirprofile, personal information, or answer questions about theirpreferences in order to access a service/site, to get incentives,coupons, specials, etc. . . . . The sites use the information formarketing and in some cases share or sell the information. Recentresearch has found that most people are willing to give information forincentives.

Using the profile and records, the surfing habits of the user (IP) isthe way that all the search engine companies make money on the Internet.At the same time they try to direct the content to the user according totheir profile/habits.

But what about real life? People spend more and more time indoors(according to recent research, people spend more than 90% of their timeindoors).

A scenario of searching for stores, items, special sales, and couponsaccording to our desire is repeated again and again . . . . The questionis how can the system transfer the success of the Internet marketingtool and the easy search for real life?

That is the main idea behind the navigation system—what if a system cantake a profile/user statistics or even user input with them anywhere andprovide one or more intelligence marketing tools. Moreover, the user isin complete control over their privacy, they can just shut theapplication off.

In the disclosed navigation system, the user has their profile salespreference and they are encoded into the user's cellular phone to beassociated with the proximity beacon ID installed in the local area.(There is 3 ways: A. set segment—the segment keys are not unique andhelp to setup the user segment only. In that case the key is not unique.B. To generate a unique key—to be used like the Internet IP. C. Create adynamic key and multiplies profile according to location/userpreferences.

The profile can include: Gender, age, and sales preference (interest),and does not include any personal profile. It may be the same as seeingthe user and recognizing their gender, age, and other preferences justby looking at the user. The user is not revealing any kind ofinformation that most sites ask for in a registration process and nopersonal information like name, address, or telephone number is exposed.

As part of the suite of LBS application, the user's phone will scan thearea for the tags/beacons. For example—by being proximity close to thedirectory stand in a mall a decoding of the user key will be processedin order to allow the user preference segments and trigger delivery tothe user with ads, specials, and incentives according to their profileas well as providing again the business owner with the best marketingtool—knowing his customers they profile and habit all using a very lowcost RF Bluetooth beacons installed in the area and associate them withthe user Bluetooth device—the cellular phone.

“Your customer is telling you what they want, are you listening?”

The main idea behind this is to provide the user with pin-point contentaccording to their desired preference at the location trigger by theproximity beacons ID and also direct/navigate them to the desiredlocation where they can find the store/sales/special/coupons or theinformation that they are looking for able to get meaningful data aroundshopper habits and store layouts statistics, as well as to help thempartner up to offer better loyalty incentives to their customers throughprograms that extend beyond single storefronts, its sensingsecond-by-second a shoppers interest about specific product, place andcan provides the business owner with a complete marketing tools notavailable until now and at the same time provides the user with offersdirectly from the business according to his habit preference profile.

The sales sense, user preference module is an add-on to the sales sensemarketing where it joins the user behaviors module to create a veryunique LBS business and marketing model. Imagine a potential customerstanding in a crowded store aisle, feeling overwhelmed by all thechoices. What if you could just reach out and give him or her somethingto help with the decision—a coupon, product information, discounts—rightat that moment? Content marketers will soon have the ability to do thisand a whole lot more just by implementing our method.

Sales sense-Shopping Behavior: How consumers decide what to buy and whenis going to drastically change. Winning marketing need to provides andwill require getting exactly the right content in the right place at theright time with even more precision. Shoppers will have the ability tocollect real-time information, comparison pricing, discounts and otherhelpful, highly tailored data as they walk through a store or browsenear particular items. It will be imperative to produce well-timed,compelling content that is useful in those crucial moments before achoice is made. Sales sense—next generation marketing tools, fromcoupons and giveaways in stores to tours of museums to airports thatprovide real-time flight information, the possibilities are endless.

Consumers will start engaging with content in a whole host of new ways.Rather than just providing information suitable for a web browser oreven a mobile user, marketers will need to think about ways to providecontent that will be of value to users as they live their lives. Frombusinesses to city parks to, the system provides a user tools to accesshelpful, real-time data like never before. As recently publishedresearch showed that on average people spend 90% of our time indoors.The proposed invention allows an effective integration of on-line andoff-line shopping.

Moreover, according to research, indoor navigation may be more importantthan outdoor navigation and may represent a huge new market.

Our technology allows shopping centers, malls, department stores,buildings, airports, train stations, exhibition centers, museums, andamusement parks to understand the way that their customers or passengersflow through their premises. At the same time it provides theuser/shopper with unique indoor navigation capability withoutcompromising user privacy.

Our innovation will allow, for the first time, the navigation and GPSindustry to tap into the local advertising market, estimated to be $134Billion in the US alone.

Our technology provides a reliable method for identifying the pathhabits and the behavior that people take through an area. There are anumber of advantages to our technology including:

Extremely large sample size as mobile penetration is above 90%,

Shoppers remain anonymous,

Accurate to within 2 m, and

Based on a Bluetooth technology.

For retail areas, malls in particular, the advantages of understandingshopper behavior are significant. Such information can assist the mallto:

Evaluate and improve their retail tenancy mix by identifying whichstores shoppers consider complementary,

Identify underutilized areas in the mall,

Understand the impact of anchor stores on the mall,

Measure the implications of particular promotions or center events,

Assist with planning day-to-day mall operations,

Provide add-ons for the shoppers,

Provide shoppers with a “web” like shopping experience,

Provide shoppers with incentives/advertising,

Increase security,

And in an emergency provide the shoppers with alarm and notification,and

Allow shopper engagement with the store, the RF beacons can become thesmall neighborhood store by recognize the shopper, what is missing fromthe on-shopping.

Our technology is the only system on the market today that can gatherinformation on shopper paths continuously and accurately based onlocally installed RF beacons without any need to establish anycommunication relationship between the user cellular phone and thebeacon (no paring or any communication needed to determine the location)and all without compromising the shopper ID or their privacy.

The various methods disclosed can also provide a way of surveying thebehavior and preferences of the “user” shopper simply by observing thesignals (encoding Bluetooth naming key) given off by their mobile phonesand associate it with the proximity beacon ID which they are near and atthe same time provide the shopper with a unique special application forindoor navigation triggering a local based services applications.

The present invention provides a next generation approach to thelocation based services (LBS) market, especially to indoor applicationsand to areas where a GPS cannot provide accurate navigation.

The data collect using the disclosed technology can be used to providetrend reports showing which shops are most visited and at what times,whether there are sufficient public facilities to serve the visitingshoppers or whether more security staff are needed to name only a few ofthe potential benefits. Ultimately, the collected data can provideassistance to shopping centers to become more in-tune with theircustomers so that they can create better, more pleasant places to visit.

The proposed analytics can turn shopping center/department store/storeinto finely tuned sites, enabling mall/store owners to direct the flowof traffic efficiently around the information coming from the user tothe benefit of the user and the business owner to provide services suchas VIP personalize services, and the like.

In contrast to alternative techniques, there is no device that tracksthe user cellular phone. In the disclosed methods the userdevice/cellular phone is the one that scans and tracks tags/beaconsalong the route, each scan includes the beacons ID and the user devicemobile phone ID, and while these keys help track the movement of thesignal and its owner, they don't reveal the identity of the user. Thisis a more precise method than what Google maps uses to detect a generallocation on a mobile phone by cell towers which are accurate between300-1000 m compared to our accuracy which is below 10 m. its allow thebusiness owner to be notify about the user existence in his vicinity andallow sending the user offers/deals more information and at the sametime collect very important information to the business owner such ashabits, profile, preference of the user to provide precise contentsdirectly to the user cellular phone.

Example of Scenarios:

A user in a mall can use a local guide and navigation applicationsuggest to him to download at the mall/building/facility or have theapplication already as a cellular phone mapping application.

As part of the application the Bluetooth on the user's mobile phone willscan signals from known locations-Bluetooth beacons and will determinethe “user's” location on the local mall map (the same way as a GPS) withaccuracy of less than 5 m. (More beacons with LESS signal range=moreaccuracy)

For example, the Bluetooth beacon can broadcast an RF signal thatincludes its position coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude), which canbe detected by a mobile device. The position coordinates can provide athird location accuracy for the current location of the mobile device byvirtue of the mobile device adopting the position coordinates of thebeacon as its own position coordinates.

The known locations of a number of beacons in a geographic region(hereafter a “beacon infrastructure”) can define a geofence thatencompasses the geographic region.

In some implementations, the beacon can also advertise location basedservices provided by the beacon infrastructure. Upon determining thatthe mobile device crossed the geofence defined by the beaconinfrastructure. The application can monitor for beacon signals andcontinuously update its location to be the location of the beaconcurrently in proximity with the mobile device.

When the mobile device loses contact with the beacon for a definedperiod of time (e.g., 5,10 minutes) or when the mobile device exits thegeofence defined by the beacon infrastructure, the application cantransfer the monitoring back to the application subsystem, so that thelocation of the mobile device can be determined using Wi-Fi and orCellular ID.

In some implementations, the application can distinguish between beaconsin the beacon infrastructure and mobile beacons that may be detected ina scan, such as other Bluetooth enabled mobile phones operating withinthe beacon infrastructure.

For example, each beacon in the beacon infrastructure can provide datain its broadcast signal that indicates that the beacon is part of abeacon infrastructure.

Alternatively, or in addition, when a mobile device makes first contactwith a beacon in the beacon infrastructure, that beacon can transmit tothe mobile device a list of unique identifiers (e.g. beacons ID) ofother beacons in the beacon close infrastructure and other informationabout the beacon infrastructure, such as a name, geofence data, one ormore websites associated with the beacon infrastructure.

Beacon infrastructure can be located in any geographic region, includingbusinesses (e.g., shopping malls, retail stores, restaurants), landmarks(e.g., museums, airports, parks, entertainment venues) and any otherenvironments where location based services are desired.

The available local advertising marketing is huge with over $150 billionin revenue in the US alone.

Indoor LBS Applications

This is a concept that offers a complete suite of application fromfinding parking to navigation of indoor malls\stores and with a capacityto navigate to emergency exits with a low cost to implement and with abusiness model that can be used to attract customers.

The application represents a big opportunity in the navigation marketand will open up new avenues for companies from telephone operators tomall/store/department storeowners to navigation and mapping companies.

The disclosed technology presents a low cost and easily deployedinfrastructure for local based navigation outdoors and indoors withoutthe need for GPS and or cellular networks. Moreover, the concept isespecially suitable for local area (indoor and outdoor) services whenand where the GPS and the cellular network can't provide the solutionand the accuracy needed to provide such navigation (1OM or less).

The disclosed technology provides a system is based on existingBluetooth, a technology that is proven to be stable, simple, inexpensiveand mature in market use. Moreover, it is a common communication tooland is available on more than 85% of all new mobile phones.

System Architecture:

The infrastructure consists of RF Bluetooth beacons installed in knownlocations in a local area. The beacons will respond to Bluetooth devicescanning inquiries made by “user's” Bluetooth enabled cellular phone orother Bluetooth device with a the special application.

Each of the RF beacon are ID that represent the Location ID as well asrepresent the facility/product type. A mobile device as well as anyBluetooth device (desktop, laptop, tablet and cars etc.) can become alsoa beacon providing a new echo system where an infrastructure can includestatic and dynamic deployments of beacons interact with each other's.

The local area map (mall map, store, building map, area map etc. . . . )will be available to be downloaded as part of a mapping system that canbe triggered to download at the entrance of the building/mall/area orthe directory to provide the mapping for the navigation or as part of amapping and navigation application.

A “user's” Bluetooth cellular phone will scan the local area for thelocation beacons. When a “user” is within 5/10 meters, the locationbeacons respond, providing room-level navigation accuracy. The beacon IDas well with signal strength will provides instant localizationdetermination, with multiple beacons installed and possibly receivingmore than one beacon's signal, a simple triangulation calculation andoptions for signal strength will determine the exact location of the“user” on the downloaded map of the local area. Note that there is nocommunication establish between the beacons and the mobile phone (nopairing), and that no connections to the Internet are necessary (even soto be provide with more information you may need Internet).

Other signals not on the list will be ignored, There is a mixed use ofbeacons and delivery option depending on the application (for example ina mall application, the stores can have a WAP or use the Internet toautomatically deliver more content push to a “user's” mobile devicewhere the beacons serve as navigation “antennae” as well as triggermechanism to provides application exploit and waypoints contents to helpthe “user” navigate in the area. Application can be: Sales Sense-NextGeneration Marketing Tools: the Behavioral Module, Nav4Parking,Nav4Realty, Nav4Mall, Nav4Sale, Nav4Museum, Nav4Show, Nav4Train,Nav4Sign, Nav4Emergency, Return2Parking, Nav4Store, Nav4Conference,Nav4Disney, Nav4Events,

Moreover, according to research, indoor navigation may be more importantthan outdoor navigation and may represent a huge new market.

The technology disclosed herein enables shopping centers, malls,department stores, buildings, airports, train stations, exhibitioncenters, museums, and amusement parks to understand the way that theircustomers or passengers flow through their premises. At the same time itprovides the user/shopper with unique indoor navigation capabilitywithout compromising user privacy.

The innovation disclosed herein enables, for the first time, thenavigation and GPS industry to tap into the local advertising market,estimated to be $150 Billion in the US alone.

The technology disclosed herein provides a reliable method foridentifying the path habits and the behavior that people take through anarea.

There are a number of advantages to the technology disclosed herein,including:

Extremely large sample size as mobile penetration is above 90%

Shoppers remain anonymous accurate to within 5 m

Based on a Bluetooth technology

For retail areas, malls in particular, the advantages of understandingshopper behavior are significant. Such information can assist the mallto:

Evaluate and improve their retail tenancy mix by identifying whichstores shoppers consider complementary. The device/cellular phone is theone that scans and tracks tags/beacons along the route, each scanincludes the cell's unique Bluetooth ID, and while these ID'S help trackthe movement of the signal and its owner, they don't reveal the identityof the user. This is a more precise method than what Google maps uses todetect a general location on a mobile phone by cell towers which areaccurate between 300-1000 meters compared to accuracy of the disclosedtechnology which is below 10 meters.

Some reports about shoppers show how valuable behavioral informationactually is and the profit opportunities that come along with this:

Where they go, Where they go next, Where they do what, When they dowhat, who does what?

Understand behavioral patterns across demographics. Similarities,differences and much more.

Sales Sense User Preference Module

Every day millions of people access the Internet and enter theirprofile, personal information, or answer questions about theirpreferences in order to access a service/site, to get to a mall,identify underutilized areas in the mall, understand the impact ofanchor stores on the incentives, coupons, specials, etc. . . . The sitesuse the information for marketing and in some cases, share or sell theinformation. Recent research has found that most people:

Measure the implications of particular promotions or center events

Assist with planning day-to-day mall operations

Provide add-ons for the shoppers

Provide shoppers with a “web” like shopping experience

Provide shoppers with incentive/advertising and automatic check-inmethod

Increase security

And in an emergency provide the shoppers with alarm and notification

The disclosed technology is the only system known today that can gatherinformation on shopper paths continuously and accurately using a RFBluetooth or Wi-Fi beacon technology and all without compromising theshopper ID or his privacy.

The disclosed unique and innovative system and method which can alsoprovide a way of surveying the behavior and preferences of the “user”shopper simply by observing the signals (Bluetooth beacon ID) associatewith their mobile phones and at the same time provide the shopper with aunique special application for indoor navigation and local based servicefor the benefit of the shopper and the business owner.

The data collected using the technology can be used to provide trendreports showing which shops are most visited and at what times, whetherthere are sufficient public facilities to serve the visiting shoppers orwhether more security staff are needed to name only a few of thepotential benefits. Ultimately, the data made available by the disclosedinvention helps shopping centers to become more in-tune with theircustomers so that they can create better, more pleasant places to visitby providing a loyalty and reward program.

Analytics provided by the disclosed applications can turn shoppingcenter/department store/store into finely tuned sites, enablingmall/store owners to direct the flow of traffic efficiently around.

In contrast to alternative techniques, there is no device that tracksthe user's cellular phone. In the disclosed method the user is willingto give information for incentives.

Using the profile and records, the surfing habits of the user (IP) isthe way that all the search engine companies make money on the Internet.At the same time they try to direct the content to the user according totheir profile/habits. But what about real life? People spend more andmore time indoors (according to recent research, people spend more than90% of their time indoors).

As part of the blue umbrella suite of location based services (LBS)application, the user's cellular phone will scan the area for thetags/beacons. For example—by being proximity close to the directorystand in a mall a decoding of the user key will be processed in order toallow the user ID and/or preference profile and provide the user withads, specials, and incentives according to their profile “Your customeris telling you what they want, are you listening?”

The main idea behind this is to provide the user with pin-point contentaccording to their desired preference at the location and alsodirect/navigate them to the desired location where they can find thestore/sales/special/coupons or the information that they are lookingfor. At the same time there is also a benefit to the mall/store owner bygetting the next generation's sales tools, getting costumers' habits andtheir sales profile, and able to serve better and accordingly thecostumers.

The sales sense, user preference module is an add-on to the sales sensemarketing where it joins the user behaviors module to create a veryunique LBS business and marketing model the analysis of thesespatiotemporal data can supply high level human behavior informationvaluable to urban planners, local businesses, and the Local BasedServices (LBS) marketing.

Mall/department store/store indoor applications are part ofnav4mall/store

The indoor applications and navigation takes a further step to give theuser/shopper next generation shopping tools by providing them with thefollowing indoor applications that are part of nav4mall/store.

Map and indoor Navigation-brings the local mall/store map to the digitalage, allowing the user to navigate from waypoints to waypoints on themap Directory—It brings the store/mall directory to the cellular phone.Search and Find-store/place/item products that are on the directoryrepresent waypoints/tags/beacons on the loading maps.

Sales/specials-discounts, sales, and coupons, that can be added-on or areplacement for the mall/store flyer that provides the shoppers atpoints in the mall/store, it can even direct the user/shopper to theaisle with the products and to coupons and directs the shoppers to whatthey looking for.

Parking and return2parking—although not directly the same beacons (forthe parking the infrastructure employs long range beacons where in astore/mall the beacons can be a shorter range). The disclosed serviceallows the user to find parking spaces and location of parked cars.

Info—the information part can provide information about events,restrooms, ATM locations, seating area, kids playground, fountain,public phones etc. . . . .

Emergency—A very important part of the disclosed innovation is theability to provide the user with a unique alarm and notification to theuser without depending on other communication links like cellular phonesthat are prone to failure in emergencies. The present invention providesthe user with the building/mall/store/place emergency procedure and inemergency will help navigate the user to safety.

Panic—part of nav4emergency allows the user to request being located inan emergency.

Privacy: The system does not collect personal information such as nameor phone number. It does, however, record the phone's Bluetoothidentification number to build a profile of the user or the use of thephone in the area. It is like surfing the web where a “user's” IPaddress is recorded for future marketing statistics and surfing habits(with permission from the user). Also as part of the encoding key intothe Bluetooth device (user profile) as described in the sale sense partthe privacy and security increases to the level where viewing the keybroadcast by the Bluetooth device can't reveal any user identity unlessthe user requests to be registered to get incentive, specials, sales,etc., even then his name or other personal information is secure andonly the Bluetooth device key/ID are recorded.

By directly targeting the consumer standing right outside or inside abusiness, an event, or walking toward a kiosk or restaurant, merchantscan maximize their marketing budget while incorporating a new,inexpensive and effective form of advertising.

The “user” is in complete control. They can disable their Bluetoothapplication any time or just reject content, there is no “spam” effectand the “user” is attracted by incentives rather than genericpromotions. In a mall-like environment a “user's” incentive to use thedisclosed technology can be further enhanced with the use of theassociated key advantages and packages.

Isn't this all a bit like “big brother”? Not at all, and it isn't even“little brother”! The system simply logs the movement of a cellularphone around an area and aggregates this to provide trend data forbusinesses. It's much less intrusive or invasive than existing methodsthat are already in widespread use—for instance CCTV cameras and numberplate monitoring as they do collect personal information such as yourimage or car number plate. The disclosed technology represents the nextgeneration shopping experience in shopping centers, malls or stores andfits very well with today's business model. Such a service can beoffered for free to the “users” and backed by advertising and the use ofthe data by the stores. Such service and application and the ability toinclude the full “suite” of applications especially designed forshopping malls/stores and including the emergency part of it will alsoease the fear of “locating” or any other privacy issue.

Who benefits from the disclosed technology? Everyone benefits from thetrend data collected. The process enables a way to collect instantfeedback from shoppers without having to bother them for information. Inthe old days centers would have used researchers to survey consumers butthis information takes time to collate and response rates are very lowthese days as shoppers have increasingly become reluctant to stop andshare their feedback. Hence the disclosed innovation provides a veryeffective method in the same way that TV networks know how many peoplewatched particular programs and use that information to discern whatprograms to make and how to calculate the costs advertisers must pay topromote their products during different timeslots, the system providesthe equivalent for shopping center owners and their resident retailers.It is believed that introducing the proposed system and marketing toolsabove can help users and merchants upgrade the real shopping experienceof today with the advantage of the web like tools.

The disclosed innovation represents the next generation shoppingexperience in shopping centers and malls and fits very well withintoday's business model. Such a service can be offered for free to the“users” and backed by advertising and the use of the data by the stores.Such service and application and the ability to include, the emergencypart of it will also ease the fear of “locating” or any privacy issue.

For the first time the shopper will experience Internet type marketingin the traditional sales and advertising venue.

Here are the benefits consumers could see from shopping center using thedisclosed technology:

-   -   Better in-mall events—the system can monitor how successful they        were by monitoring the sheer volumes of people attending and for        how long.    -   Provide shoppers with next generation sales tools: navigation in        your mall store facility directly to the sales or specials that        you want them to go to . . . .    -   Add-on to the store/mall directory and the in-store mall flyer.    -   Take the guessing from the customer's next want . . . and then        send them directly to the products, coupons, or specials they        might want.    -   Improved public transport links—by monitoring how people        traveled to a center. With the government's current emphasis on        helping people to use public transport more effectively, having        this kind of information can have a very positive, local        environmental impact. Busy shopping centers can otherwise create        large volumes of extra road traffic, also with the        search4parking and return2parking application improves traffic,        saving time and gas.    -   Eliminates congestion within the shopping center—the disclosed        innovation can help center management understand whether opening        hours need to be extended or whether the center layout needs to        be improved to avoid congestion.    -   Improves shopping center and public facilities efficiently—the        disclosed innovation's data helps managers to understand which        parts of their facility are very busy which means they know when        to deploy extra employee/cleaners/security to ensure proper        service.    -   Better security—over-crowding also leaves shoppers vulnerable to        pickpockets and other security risks. The disclosed system can        identify congested areas and ensure security personnel are        deployed appropriately. And in an emergency the disclosed system        can provide instant alarm and notification even if the cellular        communication or other system is not available.    -   Improved mix of stores and center layout—the system helps        identify which stores are popular and which are not—making sure        that the best possible layout and mix of shops is provided for        visiting shoppers. If some shops are unpopular they can be        switched for brands that customers actually want.

It is believed that shopping should be an enjoyable pastime. Who wantsto go to shopping center that are congested, poorly laid out, have dirtytoilets, are badly positioned for transport links and which pose asecurity threat to visitors? Altogether this makes for a much bettershopping experience.

How do shopping center owners and retailers benefit? The benefits forshopping center owners of using the disclosed technology are huge andthere are many possible uses for the information gathered. The disclosedapplications can help shopping center owners get a better understandingof how people use their center such as the order of stores they visitand the time they spend in different areas of the center.

These days, visits to shopping malls are falling with increasedcompetition from supermarkets, retail parks, and the Internet. Withvisit frequency going down it is critical that the shopper experience atthe mall is exceptional and that is where the disclosed applicationscome in. The information can assists malls at all levels, from the verymundane to the more strategic questions that they face-such as whetheror not they have the right mix of retailers across the mall.

Similarly it could help museums identify their most popular exhibits andhelp exhibition companies plan their venues more carefully aroundvisitor traffic flows.

The disclosed technology is able to provide a solution with quantitativefeedback on whether the changes they make in the mall are successful.One of the ways to do this is by looking simply at how long shopperstend to stay within a mall.

Don't retailers already measure shopper numbers? Yes they have infraredcameras and counting machines, which monitor and count the numbers ofvisitors to their stores. This measure is known as “footfall” and hasbeen used by retailers for many years. The disclosed system providesanother level of data by looking at the aggregate paths that mobilephone carrying visitors take and the length of time they spend-known as“dwell time”.

In the past malls have focused solely on looking at the numbers ofshoppers that they are drawing through the doors (footfall) but whencombined with dwell time they can get a much more accurate predictor oftheir performance.

The system has no idea who the user is an individual. The system onlylooks at the path the user's phone takes. Essentially, it's like lookingat a dot moving around a screen. In isolation this information isn't toointeresting until you look at the wider patterns and trends and see lotsof dots taking the same route or visiting the same areas of the mall.

What is the Bluetooth ID number? A Bluetooth ID is like the IP number ina computer network or the Internet which does not contain or reveal yourphone number that the network operator uses to identify your phone. Thesystem utilized the ID information as a key to find and detect the user.

The linkage between this identifier and your personal information isvery critical to the business owner as it can provides a user habitpreference profile and provides a new breed of tools to the businessowner just by getting to know where the user is, and at the same time toprovide the user with the best “VIP” like personalize shopping services.

The disclosed applications do not detect any personal information andhave absolutely no idea who you are as an individual. Although theapplications include an option for users to register as mall/storecustomers to provide more details about you (still no real ID), like amembership cards that will be provide the user with incentives, coupons,or special discounts if they participate. Moreover recent emergencyevents prove the need for emergency and notification to the “rightpeople” at the “right time”, by keeping the key/ID of the Bluetoothdevices that are in the area/facility the disclosed nav4emergency canprovide instant alarming and notification and navigation to the exitroute and to safety all without revealing user ID or breaching privacyof the users.

The business model-Next Generation Marketing: The web advertising andthe main focus of search engine success is based on technology thattracks the web user's habits and provides him with related ads accordingto his interests.

Using the disclosed infrastructure of a Bluetooth beacons, wherein thebeacons are deployed about in a mall, store or shopping centerenvironment. The disclosed invention represents a very unique ability tobring a web like shopping experience by its ability to keep up on the“user's” “surfing” or shopping habits in the shopping center, mall, orstore. It will provide a better shopping experience (coupons, specialssales, according to the user's shop-ping habits) and service to theshopper.

Even though it may look like a privacy issue, the add-on services, theapplication, and the idea that it may save the user's life(nav4emergency application) combined with the fact that it does notreveal the person's name or telephone number, it is the same as theeveryday use of surfing the Internet when the user's IP is recorded bythe web sites and provides the basis for the “ad sense” or the webmarketing tools, referred to as a “sale-sense”.

It is believed that introducing the disclosed system and the associatedmarketing tools above can help the users and the sellers to upgrade thereal shopping experience of today with the advantage of the web liketools.

The disclosed innovation represents the next generation shoppingexperience in shopping centers, malls and fits very well with today'sbusiness model. Such a service can be offered for free to the “users”and backed by advertising and the use of the data by the stores. Suchservice and application and the ability to include the emergency part ofit will also ease the fear of “locating” or any privacy issue.

For the first time the shopper will experience Internet type marketingin the traditional sales and advertising venue.

The disclosed innovation provides valuable solutions that enhance theeffectiveness of ad campaigns. The ability to optimize performance inreal time has a positive effect on advertiser satisfaction. The factthat this service is well integrated into the disclosed system is atremendous advantage.

The disclosed innovation is a performance-enhancing technology,providing great data and allowing improved customer service.

It can be an extremely effective way to optimize the performance ofoffline/online advertising campaigns in the mall/store environment. Forexcellence in client services the idea is a clear win-win for everyone.

Helping to understand where users are going in the mall/store in reallife and their buying behavior patterns will allow the merchants tocontinually adjust offers, placements and creative content to improvebuy-through and maximize sales.

The disclosed technology will evolve mobile content into a bonfirerevenue center that will benefit the shopping mall operator andmerchants alike.

The “user” is in complete control. He can disable his Bluetoothapplication—any time or just reject content, there is no “spam” effectand the “user” is attracted by incentives rather than genericpromotions. Probably the best technical analogy would be to compare thedisclosed technology with existing web-based systems that measureviewers of web sites, for example Google Analytics.

For example, the Bluetooth beacon can broadcast an RF signal thatincludes its position coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude), which canbe detected by a mobile device. The position coordinates can provide athird location accuracy for the current location of the mobile device byvirtue of the mobile device adopting the position coordinates of thebeacon as its own position coordinates.

The known locations of a number of beacons in a geographic region(hereafter a “beacon infrastructure”) can define a geofence thatencompasses the geographic region. In some implementations, the beaconcan also advertise location based services provided by the beaconinfrastructure. Upon determining that the mobile device crossed thegeofence defined by the beacon infrastructure. The application canmonitor for beacon signals and continuously update its location to bethe location of the beacon currently in proximity with the mobiledevice.

When the mobile device loses contact with the beacon for a definedperiod of time (e.g., 5,10 minutes) or when the mobile device exits thegeofence defined by the beacon infrastructure, the application cantransfer the monitoring back to the application subsystem, so that thelocation of the mobile device can be determined using Wi-Fi and orCellular ID.

In some implementations, the application can distinguish between beaconsin the beacon infrastructure and mobile beacons that may be detected ina scan, such as other Bluetooth enabled mobile phones operating withinthe beacon infrastructure.

For example, each beacon in the beacon infrastructure can provide datain its broadcast signal that indicates that the beacon is part of abeacon infrastructure. Alternatively, or in addition, when a mobiledevice makes first contact with a beacon in the beacon infrastructure,that beacon can transmit to the mobile device a list of uniqueidentifiers (e.g. beacons ID) of other beacons in the beacon closeinfrastructure and other information about the beacon infrastructure,such as a name, geofence data, one or more URLs to websites associatedwith the beacon infrastructure. Beacon infrastructure can be located inany geographic region, including businesses (e.g., shopping malls,retail stores, restaurants), landmarks (e.g., museums, airports, parks,entertainment venues) and any other environments where location basedservices are desired.

The system use and costs should scale well with its ability formulti-use in an emergency and in a non-emergency to provide localnavigation on malls/store campuses, buildings, hospitals, hotels, mallsetc. . . . using the Bluetooth beacon for navigation. Some of the keyapplications are:

NAV4Mall NAV4Store NAV4Sale or just University or Building Navigator,explore the indoor mall or inside a department store, navigate to theright place or the store or the department that you need. Navigate onthe mall map/store mapping to find your way around all using yourcellular phone or navigation system without a GPS. A new kind of serviceand new marketing way for the malls/store business owners, an add-on tolocal advertising.

With an indoor navigation based on the local map/mall that will providethe user a navigation to his desired location in the mall/store andreceives content according to his preferences or habits the user can bedirected to a store/product even isle inside the store as well a newmarketing tool to the store/mall owner to get the customer with a newservice. The store will have also an option to deliver more content(advertising, sale, coupons, promo etc. . . . ) to the user when heapproaches the store or already is inside via Bluetooth or Internet pushto the user cellular Bluetooth enable. And in emergency—thenav4emergency will kick in, the nav4store mall module is the one that isdescribed in more details in the patent application.

NAV4Museum NAV4Conference NAV4Show, explore museums or conference showexhibits in a new unique and easy way, find your way around whennavigating on the floor map of the museum conference or the show, indoornavigation, navigate to exhibits restaurants, cafes, lavatories etc. . .. all to the “user” navigation or cellular phone. Any Museum Conferenceor show provided to the attended a mapping to the exhibits, some providealso additional audio device (headset) to get more information on theexhibits. The disclosed innovation will provide a unique indoor toolsthat will allow the attended to navigate the museum, conference or showin an easy way directly to his Bluetooth enabled cellular phone, when hereaches his desired exhibit he will be allowed to download directly tohis cellular and or Bluetooth headset information about the exhibits. Anindoor navigation to the exhibits as well to the restaurants, cafes,lavatories etc. . . . . All to the “user” navigation or cellular phoneand based on the facility map. And in emergency—the nav4emergency willkick in.

For all the users of mass transportation system the disclosed innovationwill allow, locate, and point the “user” to the exact station orlocation on a route, an easy way to navigate in the train, subway,underground kind of system, a new way of “subway” or bus mapping in/outdoor and directly to the user's navigation or his cellular phone. Everyday millions of people are using the mass transportation system, trains,sub-ways, buses, each of the passengers depend on the transportation mapfor the route information as well as schedules and additional servicesprovided by the transportation system. Most of the passengers of todaycarry with them a cellular phone.

Such method can be used by the management of the transportation system,train, buses, taxi and road management where the RF beacons can beinstalled in any transportation facility or entity to provides trafficand even on-demand transportation request as well as on-line real timetraffic and transportation “head count” of the mobile device exiting inthe local area according to associate with a proximity beacons installedin the transportation entity of transportation infrastructure etherparking, traffic, sign, schedules and time to station and traffic—howmany people at the station or bus stop or at area to create a need totaxi or public services as on-demand service.

Aside from such data gathering and the important of such statisticallyinformation to manage the flow of transportation in a local area wherethe beacon serve as “sensor” to detect the traffic in specific area tobe monitored by collecting how many device are in that location and inevent of emergency can provide emergency notification and alarming thelocal devices.

The method explained can be used to manage the transportation andprovides automatic awareness into transportation managements andoperators as well as the user on the road where he can automatically getinformation about traffic in his area generated from associates, hiscellular id and/or the car Vin broadcasting method (a method where thecar himself become an a long range RF beacon) and an RF beacon installedon the road—automatic traffic information that tracks the existence ofthe user in the area and proximity to a beacons installed in theroad/transportation facility (even the traffic at intersection).infrastructure of wireless beacons to the benefit of transportationindustry managements by providing automatic crowd sourcing data from theusers along the road By delivering the beacons id they proximity to andhave it statistically view as data guttering for events like traffic onthe road automatically, adding such technology and infrastructure intothe roads may take time so the use of the driver and passenger or thepedestrian cellular phone as a beacon and as automatic trafficnotification can provide instant infrastructure—dynamic immediatedeployment for the benefit of the transportation as well as the driversin view of the driver and or the passenger and even the car can be setas a beacon and part of the automatic transportation system to alert fortraffic and road safety and even for a car to car automatic notificationof traffic and road information.

The disclosed innovation provides the passenger with the navigationinside the transportation system directly to the passenger's Bluetoothenabled phone; the passenger will know the exact location/station on theroute as well as additional information on options like schedules. A newadd-on service to the transportation providers as well to the passengersutilizes the disclosed indoor navigation method, and in an emergency—thenav4emergency will kick in.

The disclosed idea of implementing RF beacons alone the roads and intransportation facilities is designed to reduce the growing congestionon the roads and by providing a tools to provides intelligenttransportation system, the implements of beacons can be part of a car,installed in red lights or in the road or in transportation facility,such system that installed in bus or subway or transportation entity nprovides real time on line report if they empty or filled with travelersbut just provide the automatic response from the user/car deviceassociate with the RF beacons that will be installed in the bus/trainthe information will allow transportation control that can be done todayonly with installed high cost camera or sensors or depend on manuallycollect information from the users or GPS, and the GPS is not availableindoor or provides an accurate information, in a simple way the usermobile phone automatically inform his “proximity” beacon ID, more of thesame beacon ID reported meaning traffic or head count of cars/travelersetc. in the transportation facility/entity area, in a way the methodprovides an “automatic waze” system, such system can even replaceexiting sensors and provides the user as well of the transportationmanagement with ability to know exactly where the bus/train/subway at atime, the data can be serve for schedule or on-demand publictransportation, like sending bus/taxi to an area according to demand inthe area. Such method can provide the user as add-on traffic andtransportation information where he—the user play big part of it and itis not depend on manual transfer of information that some time proven tobe not accurate enough. One application creates an echo system where thedrivers of cars and the transportation entity are all integrated for anintelligent transportation system of tomorrow and all based on the sameconcept of infrastructure on RF beacons statics or dynamic in locationwhere the user mobile phone as well as the car are integrated part ofsuch system. Note that a mobile device as well as any Bluetooth device(desktop, laptop, tablet and cars etc.) can become also a beaconproviding a new echo system where an infrastructure can be includingstatic and dynamic deployments of beacons interact with each other's.Again, adding such technology and infrastructure into the roads may taketime so the use of the driver and passenger or the pedestrian cellularphone as a beacon and as automatic traffic notification can provideinstant infrastructure—dynamic immediate deployment for the benefit ofthe transportation as well as the drivers.

NAV4Theme Park—Theme and amusements Park navigation, navigate to yourdesire attractions as well with a new way for register to a “fast pass”kind off lane all in an easy way to the “user” cellular phone withoutthe need for GPS Provides a new media and-on service. Ever wonder whatit will be like to navigate inside the amusements park to the desiredattraction, to know the schedules of the shows at the attractions andeven to get your “fast pass” from a remote location instead of standingin line. All based on RF beacons that installed in the local attractionpoints and provides the triggering mechanism for guide navigation andthe additional information about the ride/attraction. With the disclosedunique innovation, all can be become reality and directly to yourcellular phone without the need for a GPS. It is understood that thistechnology can provide a new tool and service to the benefit of theamusements parks as well to the user.

Cellular next “Killer Application”: Emerging technology markets arealways on the lookout for that elusive “killer app”—the precious,irrefutable application that makes adopters stand up, take notice, andopen their wallets. Once it's found, and as soon as adopters realizefirsthand the value to be achieved, that killer application eventuallyexpands into other, more advanced areas of adoption and innovation.

Hotel resort and cruise ship: A good example of use will be Nav4 HotelResort Cruise ship. The benefit of the proposed system andinfrastructure of installed RF beacons in such places as cruise ships,hotels, resorts, and hospitality facilities to the business and to theguest.

The subject invention creates infrastructure of RF beacons in thefacility, hotel, resort, and cruise ship areas to be integrated with theexisting hospitality system and provide a trigger mechanism when theexistence of the traveler/guest is detected.

The association between the guest mobile phone or the hospitalityemployee mobile phone and the RF beacons ID will allow the exampleoption below, as such there is two parts for the system to work, theinfrastructure of the RF beacons installed in the local hotel, resort orcruise ship and the guest or employee mobile phone with the Bluetoothand or Wi-Fi and the application, note that the system can be work evenwithout Internet and/or cellular communication and can utilize existingWi-Fi system and local servers.

Example of some of the benefits and functionality to the hospitalitysystem are:

-   -   Automatic check-in and interface to the front office system and        billing folio    -   Link to key system or even replace the room key.    -   Recognize guest in-room, turn on Air condition and light—and        turn off when the guest leaves the room to save electricity can        be setup to automatic or manual.    -   Hotel resort cruise ship navigation.    -   Allow local messaging without Internet and or cellular        communication based on local chat (especially fit to the cruise        ships).    -   Allow push messaging to the guest by local services or by remote        (when Internet is available).    -   Replace and ad-on to the guest in—room package of the area guide        and deals and coupons.    -   Option of VIP services where the guest can be recognized        automatically around the hotel, resort, and cruise ship for his        profile preferences just by being in the area—providing personal        treatment and services.    -   Room can be set to be open or close to clean according to guest        or housekeeping existence.    -   Housekeeping management room status attended worksheet and        productivity report.    -   Increase security to the guest and to the hotel resort.    -   Allow the creation of profile preference of the guest companies        group.    -   Provide check-in to a restaurant interface to a POS system bar        system and menu selections.    -   Provide automatic ticketing and seat selection.    -   Guest loyalty, membership program incentive.    -   Increase security and provide add on to the security plan of the        hotel, resort, and cruise ship to be part of the emergency        evacuation and emergency procedure.

It is believed that the disclosed invention will meet the desire ofhospitality service providers to increase their average revenue peruser.

The main object of the present invention is to provide the indoor guidenavigation and a special application for indoor use without the need forGPS communication.

It another object of the present invention to provide a method ofproviding special indoor application using an RF beacons Bluetoothand/or Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled devices especially the cellularphone.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method ofspecial application for local business, mall/departments store orregular store, buildings, downtown centers and other facility areaespecially but not limited to indoors with a use of triggeringapplication that uses the proximity ID of the detected beacons in thearea.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a marketingmodel method especially but not limited for the LBS market.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a businessmodel method especially but not limited for the LBS market.

The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are achieved byproviding an infrastructure of a Bluetooth beacons/tags installed in aknown location in the area/facility, each tag/beacon has his own uniqueID to ID the location in the area, the tags/beacons broadcast the ID tobe pickup by the cellular Bluetooth mobile device.

An indoor mapping or mapping images of the area/facility will be part ofthe application and can be download before arriving to the area/facilityor trigger download at the area.

The application on the cellular phone/Bluetooth enabled device will scanthe area/facility for the tags/beacons ID/name when a Bluetooth tag thatmatches the list responds to proximity detection and establishes asignal strength that may be calculated and when more than one beaconsignal receives a simple triangulation can be done to find the currentlocation. Other Bluetooth device not on the list will be filtered out.

The locating is established and will be displayed on the map. Andbecause the location of the other tags/beacons is known navigationbetween the current location and a desired tag/beacons that representwaypoints are easy to achieve. In reality no communication isestablished at all between the tags/beacons and the cellular phone.

The disclosed innovation reverses the current idea of “locating” theuser by letting the user navigate utilizing to the beacons of Bluetoothbeacons (whose signal is sent by way points) directly to the user'smobile device. This will allow LBS (Local Base System) navigation, evenindoors without GPS or Cellular network as well as triggeringapplication and even link to existing system and software.

The RF beacons can reach from long distance depending on the applicationand the antenna used by the RF beacon (to get more accuracy less rangeand more beacons may needed so the 10 m is more than needed inbuilding/room environment) getting more range to the “box” is as simpleas attaching a bigger antenna or power buster to increase the signal.

The user is in a complete control, they have the choice to turn it on oroff at any time.

User can choose to be registered: membership privilege, student in auniversity, school, and business especially for receiving directincentive specials coupons etc. . . . and for a full nav4emergencyprotection.

The disclosed applications let the user choose between participating andreceiving incentives, specials, sales, coupons and local content tailorto the user preference, all for free, or they can choose not toparticipate and pay a small fee for the service and the software. In anycase the user's privacy is still protected to the highest level comparedto any normal daily use of the Internet . . . !

There is also a great benefit to the user participating-they can havefull emergency notification directly to their phone and in an emergencythey can be directed by the emergency procedure in thearea/building/mall/store and navigate to the exit route, even if thecellular network fails due to the high volume of traffic occurring in anemergency situation.

In the disclosed method, there is no detector or tracking for the user,the user themselves engage the scanning and detecting method to find thebeacons in the area the user device with the proximity scan beaconproviding the triggering mechanism.

Other than that, the proposed solutions create a full suite ofapplications for the benefit of the user, from parking to sales specialsto indoor navigation, to be informed and notified in case of anemergency and directed to the exit route to safety.

The disclosed method can be attractive not only for shopping malls,department stores, or downtown strips but also to high-rise buildings,commercial buildings, universities, schools, museums, amusements parks,trains, subways, and hotels. It can also be attractive to searchengines, advertising companies, cellular phone operators, manufactures,GPS companies, mapping, local businesses, local advertising, locationbased services (LBS), and the like. The disclosed method can give theLBS a new meaning—the business model that's made easy.

A facet of behavioral targeting has been around for a while but mostlyon-line but it's been gaining traction among ad agencies retargetingprogram is now a key planning consideration for its advertisers.

Why? The primary reason is because retargeting is a powerful means tobring lift to ad campaign results, generating higher conversion ratesand lowering acquisition costs. You can't get much more effective thantargeting a person who has shown interest in a product but didn't buywith a related ad that then gets him to buy, right? It generally failsto tap the unique opportunities of local advertising market estimates tobe over $150 Billion in US alone . . . . Although people are spendingmore than 90% of their time indoor, there is no clear technology toprovide indoor navigation and not clear business model, the advertisers,the business are disillusioned with the promise of location baseservices (LBS) but are still longing for a solution that properlyaddresses the significant audience represented by the explosion ofcellular phones use and the availability of content.

It is understood that the disclosed innovation technology and businessmodel can provide the next generation method for the LBS market to tapinto the huge market opportunities.

The disclosed methods represent a very unique way of locating the exactlocation, in the method the user scans the area for a known list ofbeacons/tags, the user controls the scanning of the area for the knowntags ID type, in reality there is no communication to be established atall between the user and the beacons (no pairing needed!), the userdevice scans the area for a known tags and the determination of thelocation done by beacon ID and signal strength to the proximity to thetag/beacon provides accuracy less than 5 m.

Added to the navigation feature is the special indoor application designespecially for indoor/store/mall shoppers from finding where the userparked his car to find/search of directory to an emergency alarming andnotification.

Moreover this innovation is not depended on cell communication orInternet for the detection method as there is no need for central systemnor expensive infrastructure, in fact the user device-cellular phone aswell with the infrastructure tags/beacons have battery built in and canwork even if the electricity is out, very important in emergencysituations.

Moreover the sale sense marketing method comprising a unique way ofdelivering local content, advertising, coupons, special sales etc. pinpoint according to user ID and or profile preference that can be arecord of behavioral activity and will provide simple and secure methodfor targeting user for LBS services and other services replacing likenear field communication for marketing and even payments transactions.

The disclosed innovation provides a full line of indoor navigationapplication especially to places/area

An indoor navigation system may include a navigation computer, anarrival detection system. The navigation computer may be configured toreceive a destination to which a user of the mobile navigation systemwishes to travel and to provide guidance to the user about how tonavigate to the destination. The arrival detection system may beconfigured to automatically detect when the mobile navigation system hasarrived at the destination by being in a proximity to an RF beacon ID inthe local area. The detection system is based on sense or scan of theexistence of RF beacons installed in the local and be configured towirelessly transmit automatically an arrival notice indicating when theuser detects the existence of a proximity of a RF beacon and detectsthat the user has arrived at the destination in response to detection bythe detection system of the arrival of the mobile navigation system atthe destination.

The mobile navigation system may be part of a cellular telephone or anynavigation device using a Bluetooth, part of the detection is anotification system is configured to wirelessly transmit the RF beaconID of the proximity beacon and to associate the mobile ID of the user todetermine the exact location of the user to provide for example: arrivalnotice to a representative of an airline. The arrival notice may beconfigured to cause the user to be checked into a flight of the airline.

The system may be configured to wirelessly transmit the arrival noticeto a representative of a hotel. The arrival notice may be configured tocause the user to be checked into the hotel.

The system may be configured to wirelessly transmit the arrival noticeto a representative of a food service.

The arrival notice may be configured to trigger the delivery ofmerchandise or a service to a vehicle in which the user is traveling.The arrival notice may include information about the location of thevehicle.

The arrival notice may be configured to trigger promotional items to bedelivered to the user relating to an establishment at or near thedestination.

The system may be configured to wirelessly transmit the arrival noticeto a representative of a conference that has been scheduled to takeplace at the destination.

The system may be configured to wirelessly transmit the arrival noticeto multiple recipients. The multiple recipients may include attendees ofa conference that has been scheduled to take place at the destination.

The system may be configured to wirelessly transmit the arrival noticeto a social networking site in a fashion that causes notice of thearrival of the user to be published by the social networking site.

The system may be configured to ask the user for permission to transmitthe arrival notice.

The system may be configured to automatically transmit the arrivalnotice upon detection by the arrival detection system of the arrival ofthe mobile navigation system at the destination.

At the time the navigation computer receives the destination to whichthe user wishes to travel, the system may be configured to ask the userwhether the user wants the arrival notice to be transmitted in responseto detection by the arrival detection system of the arrival of themobile navigation system at the destination.

The system may include a global user setting which a user may set toautomatically transmit or not transmit arrival notices in response todetection by the arrival detection system of the arrival of the mobilenavigation system at destinations.

The system may be configured to ask the user to where it should transmitthe arrival notice, to receive information indicative of this requestedlocation from the user, and to transmit the arrival notice to thislocation.

The system can create and utilize a network, which is referred to asdynamic deployment. The system will use the built-in Bluetooth protocolstack module that is able to simultaneously interconnect with otherlocal devices, such as portable cellular phones in a “piconet”, over thelocal area. The simultaneous connectivity limit of eight (8) devices ata time is overturned by the ability of creating a plurality of piconetswhich operate in a close proximity. It is understood that the Bluetoothenabled devices, such as portable cell phones, can rapidly move from onepiconet to another. In fact, the Bluetooth devices need only remain amember of a piconet for the period of time required to complete onecommunication transaction. So the Bluetooth enabled devices can join andleave a local piconet frequently, effectively overcoming the eight (8)device limit. It is noted, even without the option to use a long rangeBluetooth antenna, the configuration can effectively reach an unlimiteddistance.

The proposed invention provides an ability to form a wireless as hocBluetooth network or networks based on a collection of Bluetooth mobiledevices that dynamically form a temporary network as long as thesedevice are within a sufficient range (inside a room or a building, roadstore or a mall). The flexibility of the ad hoc network is what makes ita suitable choice for emergency deployment scenarios, where multipledevices would be deploy in a proximity area that is designated as anemergency to provide a new way of distributing emergency and alertinformation directly to those in the needed area.

Moreover, based upon normal human behavior, there is no need to informeveryone in a full room, or requiring all of the proximity devicesparticipating in the network to be informed (for example in emergency).If only a few people within the occupied room are informed or receivethe emergency information on their portable cell phone, they will conveythe information to others located in the area.

The same method and idea is mimicked by the concept of dynamicdeployment. The concept can be paralleled as a new way to delivercritical emergency alarming and notification without infrastructure inthe localized area.

Moreover, the limitation of Bluetooth coverage can be overcome byutilizing the capabilities of the Bluetooth protocol in the methodsdescribed above. For example, in a very large conference location, thelocalized Bluetooth network (piconet) can join each other and form alarger network that covers the entire facility, which is much largerthan the limited coverage of a single Bluetooth device. Portable cellphones located at one end of the facility can communicate with a secondBluetooth enabled device located at the opposite end, where thecommunication traffic is relayed by one or more intermediary, bridgedevices. Any Bluetooth device, in our example Bluetooth enabled cellularphones, can become the bridge. The cellular phone owner does not need toknow whether his/her device is a bridge, as the process is establishedand functions automatically as part of the Bluetooth protocol stackroutine; in effect not changing any internal behavior of the Bluetooth.

And again, there is no need to reach all the people with an emergency orother message, as if the message were conveyed to only a few in a room,at least a portion of those would inform the remaining people of theemergency message.

Moreover, the present innovation will allow the user to use a “localinstant emergency messaging system”. The dynamic deploymentconfiguration provides the ability for people to communicate with oneanother in the same local proximity using Bluetooth, where the peoplecan chat and exchange important messaging for free exclusive of a needfor a cellular network. Just think what it can be done in emergency oreven in army deployment as other communication method.

From the old days in history, humans used messengers to deliver news andinformation. The disclosed invention uses applies these older conceptsto a device that will make it easy to distribute and broadcast theinformation around, using the messengers as the mobile (emergency)notification, as referred to as dynamic deployment.

These, as well as other components, steps, features, objects, benefits,and advantages, will now become clear from a review of the followingdetailed description of illustrative embodiments, the accompanyingdrawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The preferred embodiments of the invention will hereinafter be describedin conjunction with the appended drawings provided to illustrate and notto limit the invention, in which:

FIG. 1 presents a schematic diagram representative of an infrastructuredeploying a series of radio frequency (RF) wireless beacons;

FIG. 2 presents a schematic diagram representative of an indoor mappingsystem utilizing RF wireless beacons, wherein the diagram depicts anexemplary application within a shopping mall environment;

FIG. 3 presents a schematic diagram illustrating basic exemplaryfunctions of an indoor mapping application as used on a mobile orcellular phone;

FIG. 4 presents an exemplary flow diagram representative of an indoordetection and navigation process;

FIG. 5 presents an exemplary series a gradient concentric circlesindicative of a location;

FIG. 6 presents an exemplary flow diagram representative of a businessbased application utilizing a series of deployed RF beacons;

FIG. 7 presents an exemplary flow diagram representative of a marketingbased application utilizing a series of deployed RF beacons, wherein themarketing based application utilizes a profile, preferences, and otherinformation for sales and marketing purposes;

FIG. 8 presents an exemplary schematic diagram representative of aseries of functions or applications associated with a series of deployedRF beacons, wherein the series of functions or applications aregenerally directed for use with an RF beacon infrastructure deployedwithin an indoor environment.

FIG. 9 presents an exemplary schematic diagram illustrating aninfrastructure employing RF beacons deployed in the indoor environment;

FIG. 10 presents an exemplary schematic diagram representative of aseries of functions or applications associated with transportationand/or telematics applications, wherein the series of functions orapplications are generally directed for use with a static and/or dynamicRF beacon infrastructure;

FIG. 11 presents an exemplary schematic diagram representative of aseries of functions or applications associated with hospitality basedapplications, wherein the series of functions or applications aregenerally directed for use with hospitality related businesses andenvironments;

FIG. 12 presents an exemplary flow diagram representative of a nextgeneration marketing tools employing RF beacon technology; and

FIG. 13 presents a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary dynamicdeployment of an RF based network for use in a variety of applications,including mobile to mobile communications, car to car communications,and emergency or local communications.

Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several viewsof the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In all the figures of the drawings, sub-features and integral parts thatcorrespond to one another bear the same reference symbol.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and first particularly to FIGS.1-13 thereof.

FIG. 1 presents an exemplary flowchart illustrating a use of RF beacons(102). The RF beacons can utilize at least one of Bluetooth and Wi-Fisignal protocols. The exemplary system utilizes a mobile cellular phone(101) to scan and detect a proximity of an installed beacon (102) in themost part for determining an indoor or outdoor location in a proximityto a known location of the installed beacon (102) and for initiating ortriggering a notification of an existence to indoor and/or outdoornavigation and delivery of local content according to the determinedlocation. The same method can be used by fix computers or portablecomputers (103), portable devices (104), pedestrians carrying a portabledevice (105)(such as a cellular phone), or a vehicle/car (106) that canbe equipped with RF Bluetooth or Wi-Fi technology. It is noted that thestatic beacons (102) can be assisted by including other portable RFBluetooth or Wi-Fi enabled devices within the network, thus creating adynamic network. It is understood that a number of applications can beprovided utilizing the infrastructure created by the series of deployedbeacons. Additionally, the applications can utilize a precise locationof the user, wherein the location is determined by information providedby beacons signals emitted from each of the deployed RF beacons (102).

FIG. 2 presents an exemplary use of the RF Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi beaconinfrastructure deployed in a mall environment. An indoor map (200) ofthe mall interior is downloaded and saved or installed on the cellularphone (101). The indoor map (200) includes building structure layout,business locations and descriptions, and known RF beacon (102) locationsthroughout the associated mall, building, or other facility. The RFbeacons (102) can be deployed inside stores or at as any other Points ofInterest (POI) located throughout or around the mall. Informationassociated with an RF beacon (102) located proximate the cellular phone(101) can be forwarded to the cellular phone (101) by the beacon signal.The associated information (109) can be displayed upon the cellularphone (101) as illustrated. A location of the beacon signal receivingdevice (such as a cellular phone (101)), can be determined based upon aclose proximity to one or more of the RF beacons (102) of the series ofdeployed beacons, which create the infrastructure. The precise locationof the receiving device (101) can be determined based upon an identifiedbeacon ID and a signal strength from the detect beacon (102) or beacons(102). The precise location can then be displayed upon an indoor map(200), as shown in FIG. 9.

FIG. 3 presents an exemplary operational process completed by thecellular phone (101). The mobile device (101) activates an applicationprogram for indoor mapping of the facility, building, structure, and thelike (200) and scans a local area for RF beacons (102) to determine theprecise location (302) of the mobile phone (101). The location of themobile phone (101) is determined done by scanning the infrastructure ofRF beacons (102), wherein each beacon is installed in a known locationwithin the structure, wherein the structure can be a mall, a building,any facility, or any other enclosed structure. The RF beacons (102) canbe installed inside stores or at any specific Point of Information(POI), around the mall. The location of the cellular phone (101) can bedetermined by using information from any RF beacon (102) located in aclose proximity to the cellular phone (101). The application wouldrecognize the beacon ID embedded within a beacon signal emitted by theproximate beacon (102). The application would calculate the location ofthe cellular phone (101) by utilizing a signal strength of the emittedand received beacon signal. This process provides a solution for a userto determine their location exclusive of a global positioning system(GPS), access to the Internet, or any other bi-directionalcommunication. The location of the cellular phone (101) is thendisplayed upon an indoor map (200) on a display on the cellular phone(101). Should the cellular phone (101) be located in a suitable area andcomprise the ability to establish bi-directional communication, thecellular phone (101) can transmit a notification signal or messageindicating that the cellular phone (101) is in a region proximate the RFbeacon (102), such as by transmitting an “I am here” message to apredetermined recipient. This can provide an automatic check-in process,where the user “notifies” others of his local existence to the localarea business to establish his local location. in turn, the system canforward local contents to the cellular phone (101), wherein the localcontents would be information associated with the current position ofthe cellular device (101). The system can be enhanced to utilize adirection of travel of the cellular phone (101) and anticipateapproaching beacons. The system would then determine and transmitinformation associated with RF beacons located along the currentprojected path of travel of the cellular phone (101).

FIG. 4 presents an exemplary flowchart illustrating an indoor detectionand navigation procedure. A user of the mobile cellular phone (101)approaches a facility/area where the user can download the facility/areamap (200) having a series of RF Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi beacons (102)installed in known locations throughout the facility/area. Theapplication installed on the cellular phone (101) will scan thearea/facility for broadcasted beacon signals. Upon receiving a broadcastbeacon signal, the application will determine if the received beaconsignal is associated with any beacons included in the list of knownbeacons (102). If the signal is determined to be associated with anybeacons included in the list of known beacons (102), then theapplication proceeds with a location determination process (303). Thelocation of the user (cellular phone (101)) is determined to be in aproximity of the identified beacon (102) transmitting the receivedbeacon signal. The location is refined by using a signal strength of thebeacon signal of the identified beacon (102) enabling determination of amore precise indoor location of the cellular phone (101). The locationis then identified and displayed on an associated indoor map (200). In acondition where the cellular phone (101) fails to receive a beaconsignal, the cellular phone (101) continues to scan the area (107). Anoptional feature includes a step of transmitting a notification ofexistence upon identification of a location; essentially having thecellular phone (101) transmit a message stating “I am here” (304) to thelocal area as a way of automatically check-in and/or a method ofnotifying a system that the user is within a local region. For example,the system can notify a local area business that a user is within thevicinity. In another example, the system can convey local contents tothe cellular phone (101) based upon receipt of the notification that theuser is within the area. The system can provide the user with anavigation heading (305) to waypoints based upon the current location ofthe cellular phone (101). In yet another example, the system cantransmit Points Of Interest (POI) to the cellular phone (101) asillustrated in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating of the indoor detection andnavigation procedure according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 4, the user with mobile cellular phone(101) approach a facility/area where he can download the facility/areamap (200) with RF wireless Bluetooth and or Wi-Fi beacons (102)installed in the facility area in a known place. The user mobilecellular phone (101) application will scan the area/facility for theknown list of the beacons (102), if beacons was found then a locationdetermination process (303) where is location of the user is determineas proximity to the find and match beacon ID, being in a close proximityto a beacon and recognize the beacon ID as well as calculating theSignal strength from the detect beacons (102) allow determination of theprecise location indoor and ability to show the location over the indoormapping (200), scanning is continue if no beacons (407) was found, whenfound the location is display on the loaded map over the mobile cellularphone (101) or Bluetooth device (103-106), part of the detection is tonotify of existence “I am her” (304) to the local area as a way ofautomatic check-in method where the user “notify” his local existence tothe local area business to establish his local location (303) andreceive local contents, according to his location a heading navigation(305) between Points Of Interest (POI) can be establish.

FIG. 5 presents an exemplary RF beacon accuracy radius circle (501) thatis utilized in at least two distinct manners: one manner is used for theapplication, and a second manner is used to identify when the user'scellular phone (101) enters and/or exits the area around and in aproximity to a beacon (102) of the series of beacons (102). The centralcircle (502) and inner circle (503) illustrate different radii from therespective beacon presenting an accuracy of the location of the cellularphone (101). The radius circle (501) would be placed as an overlaycircle over a portion of the local indoor map (200). This displayedconfiguration would identify an accurate location of the cellular phone(101) respective to the proximity of the beacon signal received from theBluetooth and or Wi-Fi RF beacon (102) installed in the vicinity of thecellular phone (101).

FIG. 6 presents an exemplary flow diagram of a business applicationutilizing the series of RF beacons (102) deployed throughout a facility,one or more buildings, a mall, a store, and the like. Each RF beacon(102) can be installed by the facility owner, a business owner (601), anadvertising company, and the like. In one application, a business owner(601) would install an RF beacon (102) in their business. When the userof the cellular phone (101) approaches the RF beacon, the cellular phone(101) detects the beacon signal transmitted by beacon (102) in theproximity thereof. The cellular phone (101) receives the beacon signaland determines the identification of the beacon (102) associated withthe received signal. Once the location and/or identity of beacon isknown, the application initiates a procedure to obtain local contentdelivery (604) from the business and/or business owner. In one option,the system can provide business or local content (605) to the cellularphone (101). In a second option, the cellular phone (101) can transmit asignal that will directly or indirectly notify the business owner thatthe cellular phone (101) is located proximate a specific beacon (102),wherein the specific beacon (102) is associated with the businessowner's store, located either proximate to or within the business ownersstore, and the like. In turn, the business owner can provide localcontent (605) to the cellular phone (101).

FIG. 7 presents a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary targetmarketing feature. The application uses a profile preference provided bythe user's cellular phone (101) wherein the mobile device scans thelocal area and determines the location of the cellular phone (101) usinginformation obtain from a beacon signal broadcasted by an RF beacon(102) and optionally utilizing a beacon identifier (302). The profilepreference is associated with the user of the cellular phone (101). Theprofile preference is provided to the local business in conjunction witha notification that the cellular phone (101) is located in the proximityto the specific RF beacon (702). The process can filter information todetermine local based services contents (704), wherein the local basedservices content (704) is based upon the profile preferences of theLocal Based Services (LBS), and the user's behavior (703). The systemcan determine local based services content (704) such as deals, offers,coupons and specials, and the like, as well as store or businessinformation, and provide the information accordingly to the user throughthe user's cellular phone (101).

FIG. 8 presents a series of Local Based Service (LBS) applications thatcan be utilized in conjunction with infrastructure provided by theseries of deployed RF beacons (102) and the methods describes accordingto various embodiments of the present invention. One application(Parking and Return to Parking (810)) provides a method for searchingfor available parking spaces and/or a process for assisting a user toreturn to the parking location of the user's car. The Parking and Returnto Parking (810) application can provide parking information within aparking garage, in a mall parking area, for street parking, and thelike, wherein the Parking and Return to Parking (810) provides the userwith direct navigation to empty parking spots and/or to provide the userguidance to return to the location where the car was previously parked.

In another application (Nav realty (802)), information associated withreal estate is provided to a user using RF beacons (102) installed ateach real estate property. Each RF beacon (102) would provide localinformation about the associated real estate property and can includenavigation information respective to the local area real estate directlyto the user's cellular phone (101).

In yet another application Navmall/store (803), information can beprovided to business operators and subsequently, business relatedinformation can be provided to the application user.

In yet another application, Navsale marketing (804), sales, specials,coupons and the like can be transmitted to the cellular phone (101)and/or the system can provide directions/navigation to the user to guidethe user to areas displaying items associated with the sales, specials,coupons and the like.

In yet another application, Navmuseum, Navconference, Navshow 805, theRF beacons (102) would be installed in known locations within a museum,a conference center, and any other related location, whereby the RFbeacons (102) directly or indirectly provide information and/ornavigation associated with the location to the user of the application.

In yet another application, Navamusement (819), the RF beacons (102)would be installed in known locations about any amusement park, themepark, or other entertainment venue, whereby the RF beacons (102)directly or indirectly provide information and/or navigation associatedwith the venue to the user of the application. The application can beenhanced by including an optional feature to assist a user in reducingwait times for access to rides, events, shows, and the like.

In yet another application, Navemergency (818), the RF beacons (102)provide critical information and/or navigation to the user during anemergency event including instructions pertaining to an emergencyprocedure, an emergency evacuation map and directions for evacuating thefacility to a safe location.

In yet another application, Transportation (810), the RF beacons (102)would be deployed in a subway, on a train, on a bus, and/or in any masstransit system. This infrastructure would provide the user withinformation directly to their cellular phone (101) from the deployed RFbeacons (102) installed along the route. This gives the user a completenavigation on a map of the train/subway mass transit directly to theuser's cellular phone (101). In an alternative mode of theTransportation Application (810), the RF beacons (102) can be deployedalong a side of a road, a cellular phone (101) residing within avehicle, integrated into a vehicle, and the like. When the cellularphone (101) is mobile, the cellular phone (101) provides wirelessvehicle-to-vehicle communication. One optional feature of thisapplication would be an inclusion of automatic traffic notifications,what can be referred to as automatic “waze”, whereby the cellular phone(101) can provide automatic traffic and road notifications. In analternate embodiment, a Bluetooth device can be located within a vehicle(106) (as either a fixed or a portable device), on a driver (105), on apedestrian, and the like. The cellular phone (101) can be included as anintegral element in gathering traffic information.

In yet another application, Navsign (811), the RF beacons (102) can beinstalled along a roadway at locations either proximate traffic signs orat locations exclusive of traffic signs, but would be appropriate forconveying traffic related information to a driver. Each RF beacon (102)would be installed at a location enabling passing vehicles to receivebeacon signals from the deployed series of RF beacons (102). The relatedinfrastructure would provide a telematics system to the driver'scellular phone (102), a system integrated into a vehicle, and the like.

In yet another application, Indoor Navigation (808), the RF beacons(102) can be employed to provide an infrastructure enabling theapplication to determine a precise location of the receiving device. Theapplication would additionally include a capability of providingnavigation between various deployed RF beacons (102). This applicationprovides a solution in areas where the global positioning system (GPS)is ineffective, such as indoors. The system also eliminates a need forbidirectional communication.

In yet another application, Nav Hotel, Resort, Cruise Ship (816), the RFbeacons (102) can be deployed within a hospitality environment toprovide an infrastructure enabling the application to determine aprecise location of the receiving device within the hospitalityenvironment or venue. Since most of the environments of the hospitalityvenues are located indoors, this application provides a solution inareas where the global positioning system (GPS) is ineffective.

In yet another application, Notification/Automatic Check-In (815), thecellular phone (101) is directed to automatically transmit an arrivalmessage, which notifies a recipient that the cellular phone (101) hasreceived a beacon signal from an RF beacon (102) within theinfrastructure of beacons and that the cellular phone (101) is inproximity of the RF beacon (102). The application can additionallyconsider elements of the user's profile when determining whether to sendthe arrival message and/or what is included in the arrival message.

In yet another application, Payments (814), a payment transaction methodcan utilize a location determined by the proximity of the cellular phone(101) to an RF beacon (102) of the series of RF beacons (102). Thelocation, the identification of the RF beacon (102) and/or the userprofile can be associated with the payment.

In yet another application, NAV Dating/Social Networking Link (812), aprecise location of the cellular phone (101) is determined usinginformation associated with the beacon signal. The location informationis then utilized to assist the user in regards to social networking aswell as indoor navigation.

In yet another application, Dynamic Deployment/Local Communication(813), the application establishes an ad hoc network between a series ofmobile Bluetooth based RF beacons, such as Bluetooth transceivers ofcellular phones (101) to provide local messaging between a messagetransmitting user and a message receiving user, wherein the message isconveyed through at least one intermediary Bluetooth RF beacon.

In yet another application, Nav Emergency (818) the RF beacons (102)provide navigation to the cellular phone (101) from the current locationof the cellular phone (101) to an exit location using a predeterminedoptimal emergency exit route. The location and routing would be basedupon the initial location, which is determined by a proximity to an RFbeacon (102) of the localized RF beacon infrastructure. The applicationcan additionally provide an emergency procedure and any other necessarynotifications to the user through the user's cellular phone (101).

In yet another application, Scanning For Life (817), the cellular phone(101) converts into a beacon in a condition where two-directioncommunication networks are unavailable by either lack of installation oran outage. The beacon repetitiously transmits a beacon signal using atleast one of cellular transmissions, Bluetooth transmissions, and Wi-FiTransmissions. Search and rescue parties utilize a portable receiver toscan for and locate the Scanning for Life beacon signal. The beaconsignal can optionally include embedded information associated with thecellular phone (101), which can include specific information associatedwith the user of the cellular phone (101).

It is noted that the RF beacon infrastructure enables execution of theabove-described application exclusive of cellular communications and/oraccess to the Internet.

FIG. 9 presents an exemplary indoor infrastructure of RF beacons (102),wherein the RF beacons (102) are installed in known locations throughouta local area. Each RF beacon (102) broadcasts at least one of aBluetooth signal and a Wi-Fi signal. The RF beacons (102) enable anapplication to determine a precise location of the cellular phone (101)on a local map (200). Once the application determines the location ofthe cellular phone (101) respective to a proximate RF beacon (102), theapplication can utilize a user profile or profile preferences to obtainmarketing information. The user profile or profile preferences can beused to filter information provided to the cellular phone (101). Theapplication can provide information to a remote recipient usingApplication Information (API (901) triggering or initiating contentdelivery (604). When triggering content delivery (604), a 3rd partyapplication (903) would respond to the transmission directed by theapplication by conveying or pushing local content or other associatedinformation to the cellular phone (902). The bi-directionalcommunication can be accomplished using cellular communication, an adhoc network, an Internet based communication, and the like. In anotherembodiment, the remote recipient can include a local business owner,thus notifying the business owner that the specific cellular phone (101)is in a vicinity of the business.

FIG. 10 presents a series of transportation based applications that canbe utilized in conjunction with infrastructure provided by the series offixed or dynamically deployed RF beacons (102) and the methods describesaccording to various embodiments of the present invention. A portion ofthe applications introduce telematics therewith.

One application (Automatic Traffic Alert (1103)) provides beacon signalscomprising telematics including traffic alerts.

In a second application (Dynamic Deployment (1104)), an ad hoc networkis created between vehicles providing vehicle to vehicle communicationusing an intermediary communication link. The vehicle to vehiclecommunication is preferably accomplished using a Bluetooth protocol.

In another application (Find Parking and Return to Parking (1105)), theRF beacon infrastructure is used to inform a user of available parkinglocations and/or provide navigation guiding the user to the locationwhere the user parked their vehicle.

In yet another application (Automatic Traffic Alert (1103)), a driver(105) can employ their cellular phone (101) to deliver automatic trafficinformation (1103).

In yet another application (Trigger Application (1102)), the systemidentifies an RF beacon, which subsequently triggers or initiates anapplication.

In yet another application (Local Tracking (1106)), the system utilizesa Bluetooth beacon that can recognize the car/driver ID and subsequentlytrack the car/driver.

In yet another application (Access Control (1107)), recognition ofeither a proximate RF beacon or an approaching cellular phone (102)causes activation of a device. This can be accomplished using any ofmany suitable processes. For example, when a vehicle is approaching agate, the vehicle would receive a beacon signal from a local beacon. Thesignal would be deciphered to determine the identity of the beacon. Onceknown, the system would act according a directive that is associatedwith the proximate beacon identity. In one example, the system wouldtransmit a signal to open a gate when the vehicle approaches the gate.

In yet another application (Theft Prevention (1109)), the RF beacon(102) would recognize the vehicle and prevent theft.

In yet another application (Automatic Payment (1114)), the cellularphone (101), an RF beacon device integrated into a vehicle, and thelike, broadcasts a beacon signal comprising a beacon identifier, whereinthe beacon identifier is used in conjunction with an automatic paymentmethod.

In yet another application (Transportation Management (1110)), the RFbeacons provide assistance for management of transportation systems.

In yet another application (Accident Prevention (1111)), the RF beaconsprovide assistance for prevention of accidents, such as by notificationto a user when two RF beacons become too close to one another.

In yet another application (Saving Fuel (1114)), the application orseries of applications can reduce fuel consumption by optimizenavigation, reducing time finding parking spots, provide telematicsassociated with traffic, provide management support of transportationsystems, and the like.

In yet another application (GPS Add-On Navigation (1113)), the series ofRF beacons (102) can be used to determine a location of a receivingdevice and can additionally be used to obtain navigation. This isparticularly beneficial in areas where the global positioning system(GPS) is ineffective (such as indoors).

In yet another application (Nav Sign (1112)), the RF beacons can conveyinformation associated with road signs.

FIG. 11 presents a series of navigation based applications that can beutilized in conjunction with infrastructure provided by the series ofdeployed RF beacons (102) and the methods describes according to variousembodiments of the present invention. Each RF beacon (102) contains andbroadcasts a beacon signal comprising a beacon identifier to enable areceiving device to determine a precise location of the device within afacility, a mall, a show, a store, and the like. The RF beacons wouldbroadcast a beacon signal using at least one of Bluetooth and Wi-Fiprotocol. At least a portion of the RF beacons (102) can be associatedwith a Waypoint.

Each of the series of exemplary applications provides a locationdetermining solution and navigation in an environment that is notconducive for the global positioning system (GPS), such as within amall, a store, a parking garage, and any other indoor location.

One application (Parking and Return to Parking (1510)), the RF beacons(102) are deployed in a parking area. Each RF beacon (102) includes atleast one sensor to determine a presence of a vehicle in the associatedparking spot. The RF beacons (102) identify vacant parking spots andprovide navigation to each vacant parking spot to a user. Theapplication can additionally or alternatively provide navigationdirecting the user to the parking spot containing their vehicle.

In a second application (Stores Directory (1520)), a directory ofmerchants is provided to the cellular phone (101). The directory caninclude displaying locations of the merchants on a local map (200).

In another application (Search and Find (1111)), the RF beaconinfrastructure is used to provide directions or navigation between knownwaypoints within an indoor facility, such as a mall. The known waypointswould be displayed upon the indoor map (200).

In yet another application (Sales, Deals, and Specials (1540)), thenetwork provides information pertaining to sales, deals, specials, andthe like to the receiving device. The sales, deals, specials, and thelike can be associated with a location of the receiving device, whereinthe location would be determined by a proximity to an RF beacon (102).

In yet another application (Entertainment (1530)), the network providesinformation pertaining to entertainment to the receiving device. Theentertainment can be associated with a location of the receiving device,wherein the location would be determined by a proximity to an RF beacon(102). The application can additionally provide navigation to a locationassociated with the entertainment.

In yet another application (Information and Events (1590)), the networkprovides information pertaining to entertainment to the receivingdevice. The entertainment can be associated with a location of thereceiving device, wherein the location would be determined by aproximity to an RF beacon (102). The application can additionallyprovide navigation to a location associated with the entertainment.

In yet another application (Dining (1580)), the network providesinformation pertaining to dining in the local area to the receivingdevice. The dining information can be associated with a location of thereceiving device, wherein the location would be determined by aproximity to an RF beacon (102). The application can additionallyprovide navigation to a dining location.

In yet another application (Emergency (1560)), the network provides anotification of an emergency situation, emergency proceduralinformation, and navigation from the current location, through thestructure, and to a predetermined exit location. The information wouldbe respective to the proximate RF beacon (102).

FIG. 12 presents an exemplary flow diagram illustrating a nextgeneration of marketing tools utilizing the RF beacon (102)infrastructure deployed in a local area. The network obtains a user'sprofile or preferences (701) as well as a user's behavioral pattern(704) associated with the user's cellular phone (101). The informationis conveyed to a business owner (702) for marketing purposes. Theprofile and/or preferences are filtered to determine applicable localbased services (LBS) (703). The information can trigger or initiate anapplication (304), establish a link to an existing system and software,and the like to provide at least one of local content (503) and indoornavigation (108) to the cellular phone (101) or similar receivingdevice.

FIG. 13 presents an exemplary schematic diagram illustrating a method ofutilizing dynamic deployment to create an ad hoc network. Exemplaryapplications include vehicle-to-vehicle communication, emergencycommunication, local communication, and the like. The method establishescommunication between a series of Bluetooth devices located proximateone another. One exemplary implementation employs cellular phones (101),utilizing the Bluetooth transceivers integrated therewith. The dynamicnetwork is created by placing proximally located Bluetooth devices intoan ad hoc or mesh network. The network is based upon overlapping signaltransmission radii. The network can include installed and/or mobileBluetooth devices, exclusive of cellular or other higher powered andcostly communication interfaces. The method can be utilized intransportation creating a road size networking of vehicles and/ordrivers for telematics or traffic information, a push alert providingroad information, and creating a vehicle-to-vehicle communicationcapability. In another option, the network can be utilized in anemergency situation, more specifically, when and where the cellularnetwork are unavailable, interrupted, down, or fail. The ad hoc networkcreates a longer range communication capability utilizing local lowpower Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi devices to convey information to localemergency responders or other parties. Another optional feature of thedynamic deployment enables creation of an ad hoc network within astructure, a mall, a store, a building, an office, an entertainmentcomplex, and the like, exclusive of cellular communication. The ad hocnetwork provides capability for local messaging between users in aproximity area. The network can be utilized to deliver local content tothe cellular phone (101) exclusive of any broader and higher poweredcommunication networks, such as cellular, and the like. The networkwould be applicable between cellular phones (101) vehicles comprisingthe appropriate transceiver technology (106), within afacility/building/area, and the like.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of mapping a localized area comprisingan interior of at least one enclosed structure, the method comprisingsteps of: deploying a series of beacons about said localized areacomprising at least one enclosed structure, wherein at least a portionof said series of beacons are located to transmit within an interior ofsaid at least one enclosed structure; broadcasting a beacon signal fromeach beacon of said series of beacons, wherein each said beacon signalincludes information associated with a known physical location of saidrespective beacon; determining a location of a mobile device inaccordance with following steps: scanning for any of said beacon signalsusing a mobile device, detecting at least one of said broadcast beaconsignals, receiving at least one of said beacon signal by said mobiledevice, wherein said beacon signal is broadcast from a beacon of saidseries of beacons located proximate said mobile device, decoding saidbeacon signal to obtain said included known respective beacon physicallocation information, and determining a current location of said mobiledevice within said interior of an enclosed structure of said at leastone enclosed structure, wherein said current location of said mobiledevice is determined based upon respective beacon physical locationinformation decoded from said received beacon signal; determining anindoor map associated with said localized area; displaying saidlocalized area indoor map; and displaying said current location of saidmobile device on said localized area indoor map.
 2. The method asrecited in claim 1, where the beacon signal is a short range radiofrequency being at least one of a Bluetooth signal and a Wi-Fi signal,the method further comprising a step of: transmitting said beacon signalas at least one of said Bluetooth signal and said Wi-Fi signal.
 3. Themethod as recited in claim 1, further comprising steps of: utilizingbeacon signals from said series of beacons to aid in navigation to saidmobile device, when said mobile device is located within an interior ofa structure where a global positioning system (GPS) is at least one ofinsufficiently accurate and ineffective.
 4. The method as recited inclaim 1, wherein said step of determining said current location of saidmobile device is accomplished by utilizing a signal strength of saidreceived beacon signal.
 5. The method as recited in claim 1, whereinsaid step of determining said current location of said mobile device isaccomplished by utilizing triangulation and at least two received beaconsignals from at least two beacons.
 6. The method as recited in claim 1,wherein said localized area indoor map is a floor plan image of saidlocalized area.
 7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein saidlocalized area indoor map is an indoor image of said localized area. 8.A method of mapping a localized area comprising an interior of at leastone enclosed structure, the method comprising steps of: deploying aseries of beacons about said localized area comprising at least oneenclosed structure, wherein at least a portion of said series of beaconsare located to transmit within an interior of said at least one enclosedstructure; broadcasting a beacon signal from each beacon of said seriesof beacons; determining a location of a mobile device in accordance withfollowing steps: scanning for any of said beacon signals using a mobiledevice, detecting at least one of said broadcast beacon signals,receiving at least one of said beacon signal by said mobile device,wherein said beacon signal is broadcast from a beacon of said series ofbeacons located proximate said mobile device, and determining a currentlocation of said mobile device within said interior of an enclosedstructure of said at least one enclosed structure, wherein said currentlocation of said mobile device is determined based upon informationcollected from said received beacon signal; determining an indoor mapassociated with said localized area; displaying said localized areaindoor map; displaying said current location of said mobile device onsaid localized area indoor map; traveling from said current locationtowards a subsequent location; repeating said steps of determining alocation of a mobile device to determine said subsequent location;determining a path between said current location and said subsequentlocation; and associating said current location and said subsequentlocation.
 9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising a stepof: overlaying a series a gradient concentric circles onto saidlocalized area indoor map, wherein said series a gradient concentriccircles provide a distance relationship between said mobile device and asecondary object.
 10. The method as recited in claim 1, furthercomprising a step of: displaying each point of interest (POI) associateda beacon identifier determined from said beacon signal on at least oneof said mobile device and said localized area indoor map on a display ofsaid mobile device.
 11. The method as recited in claim 1, furthercomprising steps of: displaying each point of interest (POI) associateda beacon identifier determined from said beacon signal on said localizedarea indoor map; selecting a beacon location from each displayed beaconlocation on said localized area indoor map; obtaining informationassociated with each said point of interest (POI); and displaying saidlocal based services (LBS) information associated with each said pointof interest (POI) on said mobile device.
 12. The method as recited inclaim 1, further comprising steps of: customizing each beacon signal byembedding a beacon identifier within said beacon signal, wherein saidbeacon identifier distinguishes said beacon from said series of beacons;broadcasting said respective beacon signal comprising said embeddedbeacon identifier from each beacon of said series of beacons; scanningfor any of said beacon signals using a mobile device; detecting at leastone of said broadcast beacon signals; receiving at least one of saidbeacon signal by said mobile device decoding said received beacon signalto determine said beacon identifier; initiating a process for obtainingmarketing information associated with said beacon identifier from aremote information provider; transmitting a request for marketinginformation associated with said beacon identifier from said remoteinformation provider; obtaining said marketing information associatedwith said beacon identifier from said remote information provider; anddisplaying said obtained marketing information associated with saidbeacon identifier on said mobile device.
 13. The method according toclaim 12 further comprising a step of: changing the beacon identifierfrequently and dynamically, where the step of changing the beaconidentifier frequently and dynamically is accomplished by the user. 14.The method according to claim 12 further comprising a step of:initiating direct contact between the mobile device and a remotecontents provider, wherein said direct contact is provided by at leastone of an Internet, a web site, and a cloud base program.
 15. The methodas recited in claim 1, further comprising steps of: determining a floorof said at least one enclosed structure on which said beacon signal isassociated with; identifying an associated floor map portion of a seriesof floor map portions of said localized area indoor map, wherein saidassociated floor map portion represents said floor associated with saidbeacon signal; displaying said associated floor map portion of saidlocalized area indoor map; and displaying said current location of saidmobile device on said associated floor map portion of said localizedarea indoor map.
 16. The method as recited in claim 1, furthercomprising a step of: providing navigation to said user upon anemergency condition.
 17. The method as recited in claim 1, furthercomprising a step of: providing navigation to assist said user inexiting said structure upon an emergency condition.
 18. The method asrecited in claim 17, further comprising a step of: communicating with anE-911 network.
 19. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprisinga step of: initiating at least one location based service (LBS), whereinthe location based service (LBS) is associated with said currentlocation of said mobile device.
 20. The method as recited in claim 1,further comprising a step of: initiating a direct link to a website. 21.The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising a step of:providing assistance to a wireless payment process using said mobiledevice.
 22. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising a stepof: displaying said current user location depicted within a circle on adisplay of said mobile device.
 23. The method as recited in claim 1,further comprising a step of: displaying the user location in theimmediate area depicted within a circle having a radius representing anaccuracy of said current user location of said mobile device.
 24. Themethod according to claim 1, further comprising a step of: employingsaid mobile device for providing communication with at least one of:social networking, emergency, chat, exchange messaging, stationarylocation to vehicle communication, vehicle communication to stationarylocation communication, and vehicle to vehicle communication.
 25. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein said mobile device is a firstmobile device, further comprising at least two more mobile devices,wherein each at least two more mobile devices is in operation like saidfirst mobile device, wherein each of said first mobile device and saidat least one more mobile device is adapted to change from a firstcommunicate link with one mobile device to a second communication linkwith any other different mobile device of the at least two more mobiledevices.
 26. The method according to claim 1, wherein said mobile deviceis a first mobile device, further comprising at least one more mobiledevice, wherein each at least one more mobile device is in operationlike said first mobile device, wherein said first mobile device and saidat least one more mobile device are adapted to communicate with oneanother forming a social network.
 27. The method according to claim 1,wherein one beacon of said plurality of beacons is adapted tocommunicate with other beacons of said plurality of beacons forming asocial network, wherein said social network is established and supportedby sharing beacon identifiers.
 28. The method according to claim 1,wherein said series of beacons is adapted to support at least one of:marketing, social networking, a dating service, vehicle to vehiclecommunication, emergency, locating an individual in one of an emergencycondition or a disaster condition, messaging associated with anemergency, navigation to direct a user out of a structure during anemergency condition, and operating within a mass transportation system.29. A method of mapping a localized area comprising an interior of atleast one enclosed structure, the method comprising steps of: deployinga series of beacons about said localized area comprising at least oneenclosed structure, wherein at least a portion of said series of beaconsare located to transmit within an interior of said at least one enclosedstructure; customizing each beacon signal by embedding a beaconidentifier within a beacon signal, wherein said beacon identifierdistinguishes said beacon from said series of beacons; broadcasting saidrespective beacon signal comprising said embedded beacon identifier fromeach beacon of said series of beacons, wherein each said respectivebeacon signal includes information identifying a unique physicallocation of each respective beacon, wherein said identificationinformation is associated with a known physical location of saidrespective beacon; scanning for any of said beacon signals using amobile device; detecting at least one of said broadcast beacon signals;receiving at least one of said beacon signal by said mobile device;decoding said received beacon signal to obtain at least one of saidbeacon identifier and said included known respective beacon physicallocation information; initiating a process for providing marketinginformation associated with said beacon identifier to said mobiledevice; obtaining at least one of local based services program and saidmarketing information associated with said at least one of said beaconidentifier and said included known respective beacon physical locationinformation; and displaying said obtained at least one of local basedservices program and said marketing information on said mobile device.30. The method as recited in claim 29, where the beacon signal is ashort range radio frequency being at least one of a Bluetooth signal anda Wi-Fi signal, the method further comprising a step of: transmittingsaid beacon signal as at least one of said Bluetooth signal and saidWi-Fi signal.
 31. The method as recited in claim 29, further comprisingsteps of: determining a location of said mobile device respective tosaid beacon associated with said received beacon signal; and displayingsaid location of said mobile device respective to said beacon associatedwith said received beacon signal on said mobile device.
 32. The methodas recited in claim 29, further comprising steps of: determining alocation of said mobile device respective to said beacon associated withsaid received beacon signal, wherein location is determined using atleast one of: signal strength of said beacon signal, triangulation usingtwo or more beacon signals, and location information embedded withinsaid beacon signal; and displaying said location of said mobile devicerespective to said beacon associated with said received beacon signal onsaid mobile device.
 33. The method as recited in claim 29, furthercomprising steps of: determining a location of said mobile devicerespective to said beacon associated with said received beacon signal;obtaining a localized area map associated with said location of saidbeacon; determining a location of each of said mobile device and saidbeacon on said localized area map; displaying said location of saidmobile device respective to said beacon identifier overlaid upon saidlocalized area map on said mobile device.
 34. The method as recited inclaim 29, wherein said beacon associated with said received beaconsignal is located within an enclosed structure, the method furthercomprising steps of: determining a location of said mobile devicerespective to said beacon associated with said received beacon signal;obtaining a localized area indoor map associated with said location ofsaid beacon; determining a location of each of said mobile device andsaid beacon on said localized area indoor map; displaying said locationof said mobile device respective to said beacon associated with saidreceived beacon signal overlaid upon said localized area map on saidmobile device.
 35. The method as recited in claim 29, further comprisinga step of: utilizing beacon signals from said series of beacons to aidin navigation to said mobile device, when said mobile device is locatedwithin an interior of a structure where a global positioning system(GPS) is at least one of insufficiently accurate and ineffective. 36.The method as recited in claim 29, further comprising a step of:transmitting an arrival notification signal upon arrival proximate toone beacon of said series of beacons to notify at least one other partyof arrival at said one beacon.